Mercey Bishop has been a teacher for eleven years. Every day she does an amazing job teaching her students and making the class fun. Throughout her career as a teacher, she has had one class that has been really special to her. The class of 2008 touched her heart because she was their class sponsor, along with Mrs. Dimmick, for all four years of the class’s high school career. Also, they were the first class that she taught and witnessed graduate.
Mrs. Bishop’s seventh grade Language Arts teacher, Mrs. Weisner, influenced her to become a teacher. “She was very unique; she was different,” Bishop described her. Mrs. Weisner let her students read in class and called it “reading workshop.” There were bean bag chairs and carpet squares that they could lay around on while reading. Bishop said that “even though it was fun, it was still educational.” With a teacher like that I would understand the influence to become a teacher.
Mrs. Bishop earned her Bachelor of Science degree in English Secondary School Education at SIUE and then got her Masters of Arts in Curriculum Design from University of Phoenix.
She also co-sponsors the class of 2018 and is a sponsor of the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance). Mrs. Bishop is also chair of the “Courtesy Committee” which plans staff events, coordinates gifts, cards, and flowers for staff who have weddings, babies, illnesses, retirements, or loss of a loved one.
Other interests of hers are cooking, canning, animals, art, TV, and reading. Her home life is busy with three kids: a 12-year-old girl and two boys who are 7 and 4. She said, “I love to take the kids fun places like the Wisconsin Dells, or camping, or whatever we can find to do.”
Also at her home are her two dogs, Kera, an eight-year-old black dog, whom she has had since she was a puppy, and Hellen Smeller, a 12-year-old shih tzu that is blind and deaf. Along with two cats, Tiger, a two legged tomcat, and Lil Girl, Mrs. Bishop also has seven rabbits.
With so much to do, she is rarely able to sit and relax, even to watch a movie.