Hannah's Story

Hannah’s Story: World Champion Snowboarder

Hannah’s Reading Recovery Teacher Remembers

Anne Stanley, Mary Hogan School, Middlebury, Vermont

It was a joy to work with Hannah Teter in 1993 when she was a first grader in Reading Recovery. She attended Mt. Holly School which is north of Ludlow, Vermont in ski country.

First and foremost, Hannah was an athlete. I remember seeing her at the top of the monkey bars at our school when she was 3 years old. My guess is that she spent many of her preschool days running around the Vermont landscape chasing her older brothers. When you have four older brothers, that can be quite time consuming.

Consequently, Hannah arrived in first grade still needing to learn some letters, words, sounds, and concepts about print. She was among the four lowest students in her class and was selected for Reading Recovery as a first-round student.

Hannah learned quickly and knew just what she wanted to read and write about—cats! Her classroom teacher and I supported her passion, and you can imagine the pages were well worn after Hannah read them over and over again. As her skills and confidence grew, she began to read books on other topics, and she was able to discontinue. At the end of first grade, she was reading Level 18 books, and at the end of second grade, she passed Level 30. As her mother said, “She is a total success story for Reading Recovery.”

Even with five children, Hannah’s mom and dad faithfully attended school activities and sporting events. They were involved in every way possible. For example, they didn’t just attend snowboarding events, they learned to snowboard themselves. Hannah’s sixth-grade teacher has nothing but praise to share about her later elementary years. Hannah was definite about her standards and was a positive role model. She was focused on her schoolwork and yet was outgoing and friendly. Now in high school, Hannah spends much of her time on the road going to snowboard competitions. She often has to learn her course work on her own. You can be proud of her once again: she is a straight A student! It warms my heart to think about Hannah’s successes. They go beyond being the best women’s freestyle snowboarder in the world right now: She is a caring family member, she has a friendly and outgoing personality, and she is an honor student.
 

Hannah Teter won an Olympic gold medal in the women's halfpipe event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. Because she competes worldwide and travels extensively, most of her schooling was completed with a private tutor. She  graduated from high school one year early.

 

Hannah’s Mother Remembers
Pat Teter
Belmont, Vermont

It’s been approximately 10 years since Hannah Teter was in Reading Recovery to help her with her difficulties with reading. As her mother, what I remember is that it was very positive and that it was extremely helpful for Hannah.

She has done amazingly well since then, being for the most part a straight A student all the way through school. She is now a junior in high school, does most of her work independently on the road, and will graduate a year early. She also has become one of the top female freestyle snowboarders in the world and travels with the U.S. Snowboard Team (which is why she now does most of her schooling on the road and corresponds with teachers online).

She constantly is doing interviews handwriting responses for national magazines and TV shows, including Elle Girl, Snowboarder, YM, ESPN, and 54321. I must say this young woman has come a long way in 10 years, with Reading Recovery being a big part of that journey. I am grateful she had the opportunity to be a part of such a wonderful and helpful program to aid her development in her early years. Thank you.

To learn more about Hannah’s awards and to see professional photos from ESPN, visit the Teter family Web site at www.teter.org.

This article first appeared in The Journal of Reading Recovery, vol. 3, no.1 (Fall 2003)