Carey Jr. High School’s Moore Receives Arch Coal Achievement Award

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (April 27, 2010) - Christine I. Moore knew she wanted to become a teacher the first time she ever walked through a classroom door. “My mother told me I came home from the first day of first grade and proudly announced that I was going to become a teacher,” she recalls. “During elementary school in various grades, I was allowed the privilege of ‘teaching’ the younger ones. The sense of fulfillment I got was beyond description even then.”

It was in high school, however, that Moore knew beyond doubt what her future would be. As punishment for not behaving particularly well for a substitute teacher, she was given the task of teaching the class for a week. “I was in heaven – so much so that my teacher allowed me to continue for three weeks running,” she says. “By the end of my senior year, I knew I was destined to become a teacher.”

With a 34-year career in her chosen profession, Moore not only became a teacher, she also ranks among Wyoming’s best. Today she was one of only 10 teachers statewide to receive a 2010 Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Award. Steven F. Leer, Arch Coal chairman and chief executive officer, made the announcement during a presentation ceremony at the Wyoming House of Representatives. Leer was accompanied by Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal, Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Jim McBride and Wyoming Education Association (WEA) President Kathryn Valido. This is the 10th year the Arch Coal Teacher Achievement Awards have been made in Wyoming.

“Christine Moore believes the most important part of her job is to ensure success for each student by motivating them to believe in themselves,” says Leer. “She is willing to do whatever it takes – even if that means giving up her evenings and weekends for special tutoring sessions – to ensure no one is left behind.”

Moore teaches algebra and geometry courses at Carey Junior High School, Cheyenne. “I strongly believe that all children can learn and that one size does not fit all in education,” she says. “Learning is a process and not necessarily a product every time. Traditionally, math has been taught in short, fragmented bits and pieces of material through direct instruction and often algorithmic ways. There is little opportunity for a student to develop enduring understanding or true ownership of learning.

“I believe in balancing direct instruction with student-directed learning – constructivism and conceptual learning, where the what, why and when of math are as important as the how. I believe in authentic tasks for students to apply their learning and to demonstrate mastery of concepts. I scaffold the learning for repeated opportunities to ‘get it,” she says.”

Moore earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, as well as Middle School Certification, at the University of Northern Colorado, Greeley. She has authored two books, 157 Activities in the Math Class Room and Mathematical Toolbox 1992, both of which were field-tested and published by Disseminators of Knowledge Publishers (DOK). When her junior high went to the core concept of “middle school,” she created and orchestrated a three-day, interdisciplinary “olympic” festival of physical sports and academic prowess for 384 eighth-grade students and 25 teachers. Moore jump-started the curriculum pacing guide for eighth-grade pre-algebra in her school and district that led to the achievement of top progress scores in the state for the last three years. She also began after-school and weekend programs for at-risk students who needed to have someone consistently care and believe in them.

Moore further supports her community through involvement in a range of community, civic and additional education-related initiatives, including a knitting club through which she and her students knit afghan “throw” blankets for several organizations and will soon begin knitting helmet liners for troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Each Teacher Achievement Award recipient receives a distinctive trophy, a classroom plaque and a $3,500 personal, cash award. Nominations of the teachers are made by the public, and selection is made by a blue-ribbon panel of the teachers’ peers, all former recipients of the Arch Coal award.

The Wyoming Department of Education, the Wyoming Education Association, the Wyoming library community, Taco John’s and Loaf ‘N Jug stores are longstanding supporters of the program.

The Arch Coal Foundation also is a supporter of teacher-recognition programs in West Virginia, Utah and Colorado, as well as a number of other education-related causes.

Arch Coal, Inc. is the nation’s second largest coal producer. Arch Coal’s subsidiaries Thunder Basin Coal Company and Arch of Wyoming employ approximately 1,800 people in Wyoming. Thunder Basin’s Black Thunder and Coal Creek mines produce approximately 12 percent of the annual U.S. coal supply. Arch Coal is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ACI) and maintains its corporate headquarters in St. Louis, Mo.