May 5, 2021
As we continue celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week, we want to honor another of RHA’s caring, compassionate teachers, Karen Hodges. Karen’s love for teaching runs so deep that in 2017 she came out of retirement to continue teaching, and she has been a special education teacher at RHA’s Walnut Creek facility for the last four years.
Karen began as a business major, but with her bubbly personality and creativity she quickly realized she was destined for a different path. Teaching gives Karen the ability to be her talkative self while helping students learn.
In the classroom, Karen says she is both a “cheerleader and an advocate.” She continues, “To help others, you need to believe in them to help facilitate their success” and “think outside of the box.” Recognizing “the small things” through her students’ smiles is very rewarding for Karen. To start everyone’s day off on the right foot, she often cheers, “There is no need to fear, your teacher is here!”
Karen’s advice to someone thinking about becoming a teacher is to think of the teacher that had the biggest impact on you. Whatever they did to make you a better person, you need to be willing to go a step further for your students. If that sounds like something you can do, she says, “come on in, the water is great!”
When Karen is not in the classroom bringing smiles to her students’ faces, she has a passion for volunteering, reading, and writing. In fact, she has written several plays that she also produces, directs and sometimes even stars in. Thank you, Karen, for all you do!