LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Caisse Gore was nominated by her colleague, Spring Williams.

Prior to teaching, Mrs. Gore was a personal trainer. When her children were six and four years old, she decided to go to Rider University to earn a Bachelor's degree in English and secondary education.  After completing the program, she continued to move forward, and she received a Master's degree in school leadership at Willmington University.  Mrs. Gore made a commitment to equip herself with the tools needed to become a rock star educator while being a single mother.  She also wanted her children to see the result of hard work and determination.

In 2008, Mrs. Gore was in her final year of school and chose to go to William Allen Middle School to do her student teaching.  Her mentor, a former language arts teacher and current high school vice principal, modeled to Mrs. Gore how to be a well-versed, dynamic, nurturing teacher, leader, and team player who could influence the lives of hundreds of families and colleagues.  Day and night, Mrs. Gore spent countless hours honing her skills by observing her mentor's delivery of curriculum and instruction, creating lessons that she would deliver, receiving thorough feedback, and attending professional development workshops.  At the end of the 2008-2009 school year, a language arts position opened at the middle school, and Mrs. Gore's hard work and determination paid off. She was given her first teaching position.  

Over the course of 10 years, Mrs. Gore continued to grow as an educator. Mrs. Gore arrives to school each day well before many staff members to set the tone for the day.  Her classsroom decor is always full of life and inspirational quotes that encourage her students.  For many middle schoolers, language arts is not always the most loved subject.  However, Mrs. Gore's desire is to build a classroom of strong readers, writers and speakers.  She accomplishes this goal each year by executing lessons filled with creativity and rigor.  Students are given multiple reading and writing assignments each week, participate in peer review and editing, are responsible for presentations where they provide feedback for one another, and have book reviews and assessments.

Mrs. Gore is known by her students for giving lots of challenging work to help them reach their potential. Although students are pushed to their own individual limits, they feel the compassion and love Mrs. Gore has for each of them.  She demonstrates this by occasionally allowing students to bring in their favorite treats to enjoy as they work. This is a small act that builds a strong community  At the end of the day, many of her students return to her classroom to work and have heart to heart conversations with Mrs. Gore.  It's in these moments where Mrs. Gore learns speacial things about her students and their families.  She uses this time to encourage her students to persevere, have outstanding character, and do their absolute best in all of their classes and in life.

Mrs. Gore is an influencer in the school community as well as her classroom community.  She leads the intervention team, which develops strategies for students with academic and/or behavior challenges.  She also serves on the building 504 accomodations committee, the building advisory committee, and culture and climate committee. Additionally, she is a teacher mentor, and she has led professional development workshops for the school district.  Mrs. Gore gives 100% of herself to each of the committees, and the reward is evident in the school's high ratings, as well as her students' stellar scores.  

One of the greatest pieces of evidence that demonstrates Mrs. Gore's passion for education and her students took place a couple of years ago.  There was an eighth grade student who was removed from his family and had no place to live.  Mrs. Gore and her husband decided to take the boy into their home.  They showed the boy what it was like to be part of a family.  Today, the boy is now officially a Gore!  She and her husband adopted the boy, and in 2020, they are a family of 9.  Mrs. Gore continues to pour life and love into all of her students, as she educates them and grows as an educator and leader.