TEACHER: Kate Hood

SCHOOL: Bay Minette Middle   School

SUBJECTS TAUGHT: eighth grade math

SOMETHING UNUSUAL ABOUT YOURSELF: I’m deaf—I have two cochlear implants to help me hear. I’ve had one for almost four years and the other for one year.

Mrs. Kate Hood just finished her first year at Bay Minette Middle School as an eighth grade math instructor. Before BMMS, Hood taught for nine years at Foley Middle   School as a seventh grade math teacher.

“I’ve been teaching for 14 years total, 13 of my 14 have been teaching math,” she says.

“I became a math teacher because I enjoyed school and the math. I find it challenging. There’s always something new.”

Hood never uses the same lesson plans twice. She admits teaching math on the laptops was challenging, but she learned a lot.

“I’m trying to make them realize what they’re learning how important it is,” she says.

Hood is very involved with Girls Engaged in Mathematics and Science.

“GEMS is my heart,” she says. “I’m working on not only getting the math competitions active in Baldwin County again, but working on the same idea with GEMS, spreading it across the county.”

Hood, along with other teachers, is planning a summer camp for GEMS. They will visit an FBI office, the maritime training center and the Exploreum. She is also the National Honor Society sponsor.

Hood is married to Brian Hood, a retired school teacher, and has five children, Katelyn, 13; Aiden, 11; Grace, 9; and twins William and Ali, 4.