Wood works to better students’ education

Director of curriculum, instruction and assessment finishing 8th year

By SARAH GENGLER, Messenger staff writer
Sue Wood had always wanted to be an educator and now, 35 years later, she has accomplished her first goal and many others she has set for herself since then.

“I remember playing school when I was just a little girl playing with my dolls,” Wood said. “I really love education, obviously. I love learning and I think in education today we are constantly learning.”

Wood earned her undergraduate and master’s degrees from Carney State University in Nebraska, and then went to the University of South Dakota to earn her educational specialist degree and Doctorate of Education. After all of that, Wood started to teach family and consumer sciences in Loomis, Neb., and said she will never forget her first teaching experience.

“I graduated on a Friday and started teaching that Monday,” she said. “I was teaching kids only a few years younger than me. Man, was that a culture shock, but I was there for nine years so I must have done something right.”

Wood became interested in talented and gifted students while at Loomis and left her position there to go back to school at the University of Northern Colorado for her endorsement in Talented And Gifted. Her new endorsement brought her full circle back to the college she first attended, Carney State, to be an instructor and consultant in gifted education.

After six years with the college she made her way to Iowa where she served as a T.A.G. coordinator in LeMars before thinking about becoming an administrator.

“My daughter, Jill, and son-in-law, Matt, influenced me, along with a number of the principals and superintendents I’ve worked with, to go back and get my administration degree,” Wood said. “It took me 15 years before I thought I could be an administrator. I was nervous about going into that field but since I’ve been here I’ve really enjoyed it.”

This month, Wood will celebrate her eighth anniversary with the Fort Dodge Community School District, where she works as Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.

Wood was recently voted Central Office Administrator of the Year for 2008 by the school administrators in the state of Iowa, and one of the qualities Wood believes makes her a great administrator is her listening skills.

“People say I’m a good listener and a hard worker,” she said. “I hope people feel I really care about them.”

Wood needs those skills so she doesn’t miss anything when it comes to the complexity of her job. Standards keep going up, enrollment is down and budget constraints make buying curriculum tough.

“My biggest challenge is keeping up with No Child Left Behind and all the state and federal mandates,” she said. “I came in 2000 and it went into effect in Jan. 2002. Ever since then, for the last six years, it has been a huge challenge. Thank heaven we have a lot of good administrators and teachers that have been supportive as we go through this.”

Her goal for the district now is to continue increasing the achievement of all the students and to narrow the achievement gap between sub groups and the general population. Wood plans to stay in her current position until retirement is possible and then she would like to teach and do research in education to help pass the time.

“Wherever I go it has to be close to the grandkids, though,” she said.

Wood’s daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren, live in Maryville, Mo., where her daughter has followed in her mother’s foot steps.

Wood’s daughter is a consultant in education for Northwest Missouri State Professional Development Center and her son-in-law is the dean of students there as well.

“We talk about curriculum, instruction strategies, professional development and everything else,” she said. “We bounce ideas off each other all the time. She was an elementary teacher for 10 years before this job. What she does, I do.”



Contact Sarah Gengler at (515) 573-2141 or sgengler@messengernews.net'>sgengler@messengernews.net