LVA educational support professional Lois Moss nominated as All-Star for decades of special-education support

Marcia Gaudette, a special-education teacher at LVA, nominated educational support professional Lois Moss as an All-Star, praising Moss’s roughly 40 years at the school and her work leading small-group math and reading supports that engage students.

Gaudette said Moss “is an All Star. She is an educational support professional, and she helps with all of our small groups, but she is a master with math.” Gaudette described Moss’s approach as combining targeted instruction with games and activities so students “have no idea how hard they’re working.”

Gaudette said Moss began helping at the school when her children attended and later moved from the lunchroom into classroom support. Gaudette said Moss has five children who attended the school and eight grandchildren, and that Moss is entering her 40th year at LVA. Gaudette said Moss supports both reading and math in small groups and takes extra time to learn students’ names and individual needs.

Gaudette recounted a classroom moment she said keeps Moss motivated: a fourth-grade student struggling with measurement stayed in for extra help, and "all of a sudden, he jumped up and said, 'I get it. I get it,'" Gaudette said. Gaudette added that Moss writes brief encouraging notes to students and keeps a collection of math games students can pick as a reward.

"She is calm. She's consistent. Well, she's very dependable, compassionate and thoughtful, yet expects kids to work," Gaudette said, calling Moss a "quiet leader" who inspires by example. "She goes the extra mile all the time. We just appreciate her so much."