Jennifer Carnley knew from the time she was in fourth grade at Spanish Fort Elementary School that she wanted to be a teacher.

“My teacher, Mrs. Edkins was the best teacher,” she says. “She showed me what being an effective teacher was all about. She showed care and concern for her students on a personal level as well as academically.”

Pine Grove Elementary School has been Carnley’s home for 10 years, seven of which she has been teaching fourth grade. Her favorite subjects to teach are reading, math and science, but she enjoys having the opportunity to teach Alabama history.

A milestone for many students is the fourth grade Montgomery field trip. Carnley admits she looks forward to it every year.

Carnley’s students are her favorite aspect of teaching.

“I enjoy meeting my new students and getting to know them,” she says. “I love to watch them learn and express themselves. They have a way of putting life into perspective that we, as adults, sometimes forget.”

Carnley hopes her students learn outside the lesson plan of her classroom.

“I hope my students will learn to have empathy for others and become leaders of the own lives,” she says. “I want them to know they are in control of their future and they can be anything they want to be.”

When she isn’t teacher, Carnley loves spending time with her family, her husband, Chuck, her son, John, and her three dogs, Molly, Bella and Bruno. She enjoys small craft projects and dirt track racing.

TEACHER: Jennifer Carnley

SCHOOL: Pine Grove Elementary School

SUBJECT(S) TAUGHT: Fourth grade

SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT YOURSELF: I love to go watch dirt track racing and I have even helped rebuild the engine of a race car. I also enjoy going mullet fishing with my husband, Chuck.