CONTEXT: About Me • About My Students • About My School

About Me

I became a teacher after my husband, Rev. Clernest Moore, and I moved to the Delta with our four children in 1987. Prior to that I had worked as a freelance journalist in Detroit for about 10 years. I completed my undergraduate education and got my teaching credentials at Delta State University, a small liberal arts college in Cleveland, Mississippi where we live. I started teaching English and journalism at East Side High School in Cleveland, in 1990. In 1994, I received a DeWitt Wallace Readers Digest Fellowship to complete my Master of Arts in English at the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in Vermont, which I did in 1997. In 1998, I became Lead Teacher at Broad Street High School in nearby Shelby, Mississippi. After 15 years of high school teaching, this fall (2005) I will become a full-time English teacher at Mississippi Delta Community College.

Meanwhile, my husband and I co-founded Nu Delta Ministries, Inc. a non-profit, tax-exempt organization serving youth and their families here in the Delta. He also pastors the Living Faith Baptist Church here. Our four children all attended public school in this same small town. Through these and other activities, I became very well-known to my students and their families in ways outside my role as high school teacher.

Over the course of my teaching career, I have been active in teacher research and professional development at the local and state levels. In 2001, I was named the Mississippi Teacher of the Year. That same year, I also won the $25,000 Milken Educator Award, and completed National Board Certification in Adolescent/Young Adult English Language Arts. I've written several articles and have chapters published in four books, mostly about my research. I serve on the State Commission for Teacher and Administrator Licensure which oversees all the schools of education in Mississippi, and grants and revokes educator licenses. It has also been my great pleasure to be the only practicing K-12 teacher on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching since November of 2001.

About My Students

To learn more about my students, view the video clip below.

Who are your students? (mm:ss) The student population & school community, including role of religion and what students might face after graduation. play Quicktime Player high • low get plugin Windows Media high • low get plugin

About My School

I currently teach English and journalism at Broad Street High School in Shelby, Mississippi. Broad Street High School serves 370 students in grades 8-12. There are 27 teachers on the faculty, one guidance counselor, a librarian, and a principal. 99% of the students are African American; 100% are on free and reduced lunch.

Broad Street High School
Click for a brief video clp of the school neighborhood.		School mission: North Bolivar School District (click to see larger image)
IN THE HALLS of Broad Street High School (click to see larger image)
ON THE WALLS of Renee Moore's classroom (click to see larger image)
Classroom Standard #1	Classroom Standard #2	Classroom Standard #3	Classroom Standard #4
In every classroom	Credo for Living	Workforce poster	Student thank you note
Bible quote	"Excellence" quote
COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES: interview with Mr. Ford, school principal.
Mr. Ford, Clip 1 (mm:ss) Hear Mr. Ford's perspective on Broad Street High School and the school community. play Quicktime Player high • low get plugin Windows Media high • low get plugin	Mr. Ford, Clip 2 (mm:ss) Hear Mr. Ford's perspective on teaching and new teachers. play Quicktime Player high • low get plugin Windows Media high • low get plugin
COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES: interview with Dr. Dennis J. Hawkins, local reverend.
Dr. Hawkins, Introduction (mm:ss) Talking with Dr. Dennis J. Hawkins, Introduction play Quicktime Player high • low get plugin Windows Media high • low get plugin	Dr. Hawkins, Clip 1 (mm:ss) Clip 1: job prospects for students, the role of religion and faith in the community members' lives; economic conditions. play Quicktime Player high • low get plugin Windows Media high • low get plugin	Dr. Hawkins, Clip 2 (mm:ss) Clip 2: economic conditions; the church's emphasis on the importance of education; encouraging students of color to pursue teaching. play Quicktime Player high • low get plugin Windows Media high • low get plugin	Dr. Hawkins, Clip 3 (mm:ss) Clip 3: changes that took place in the schools during the time of integration play Quicktime Player high • low get plugin Windows Media high • low get plugin
Dr. Hawkins, Clip 4 (mm:ss) Clip 4: more about the "academies" of the South; advice for white teachers teaching students of color; comments on racism in the present-day South. play Quicktime Player high • low get plugin Windows Media high • low get plugin	Dr. Hawkins, Clip 5 (mm:ss) Clip 5: more about the Shelby community play Quicktime Player high • low get plugin Windows Media high • low get plugin