Misty Landes has spent the majority of the last two decades teaching and serving in a variety of roles at May ISD, but she’s also ventured outside of the district to assist children with specific issues.

Currently, Landes just finished her second year teaching English at May High School. She formerly taught junior high English and PE, has served as cheer sponsor, helps with high school UIL and the FCA program, and teaches a Finance class in the afternoon, as well as a STAAR prep class.

“I’ve done really anything you can think of here,” Landes said with a laugh. “In a small school you do different things, whatever they need really. You wear a lot of hats in a small school.”

During her 21-year career, however, all that time has not been spent exclusively at May.

“I left the field for about three years to be a teacher for a visually impaired and I worked with a co-op through that time,” Landes said. “Then I took time off to have a baby and then I came back. I keep coming back.”

The reason she keeps returning to May ISD, according to Landes, is, “I love the family atmosphere at May. I just love being connected with the kids. I miss the classroom, that was the main reason I came back. I miss having my kids and I miss the community. We have a great community and family atmosphere within the school district. Everyone helps each other, you cheer for your best friend’s kids, you cheer for the kid that just moved there and doesn’t fit in yet. I traveled a lot when I was doing the braille and the visually impaired work, that was a lot of a travel time and I was more of a guest at the other school districts. I missed the family connection.”

Her decision to walk away for a time to teach the visually impaired involves a personal connection.

“I have two girls with Albinism and they’re both visually impaired,” Landes said. “I’ve learned a lot about their visual impairment and connected with so many different kids and families. I’ve networked from the get go when they were little, and it’s just something I always wanted to do. I took some classes and Brenda Lee at the Region 14 Service Center connected me. My mother is also a teacher for the visually impaired and she did that and enjoyed it and it was something different to try. I’ve always loved meeting new families and helping them and getting them connected to the right resources. That’s a big part of why I wanted to be a teacher for the visually impaired, and help those kids that need resources.”

Speaking on her current role at May, Landes is enjoying the move up to high school English after teaching English at the middle school level.

“They’re more independent and you can have those challenging conversations with the kids through literature,” Landes said. “I feel like I can help the high school kids that don’t have a family unit of support and don’t have that encouragement at home. I found my reason for teaching again when I went to high school.”

Landes’ decision to become a teacher was fueled during her senior year of high school in Bangs.

“My senior year in high school I got to be a student aide for the second-grade teachers during one of my class periods,” Landes said. “I really loved it and I never would have taught high school or junior high, I would have taught third grade for the rest of my life. That opened the door for me to see what they did in the classroom and what they did outside the classroom. My mother was a second-grade teacher at Bangs for a long time. I saw what she went through to get certified and graduate because she went back to school late in life. I thought I could do that and that sounded fun.”

Landes cited a pair of educators in particular that inspired her at an early age.

“Jay Adams was my coach through high school athletics and really pushed us to work hard,” Landes said. “Ms. Julie Kovacik was my high school Spanish teacher and she made learning fun. She always had music in the classroom, she made learning Spanish and anything fun. Learning doesn’t have to be so humdrum, we can do something different and think outside the box.”

Following graduation from Bangs, Landes attended Cisco College and then Tarleton, and received her teaching for visually impaired certification through Stephen F. Austin online.

She and her husband Bruce have been married 24 years and have three daughters – Kaylie, who is a 2024 graduate of May High School and will pursue a degree in education and cheer at Cisco College; McKenna, who will be a junior; and Brooklyn, who will be a seventh grader.

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BrownwoodNews.com will highlight one Brown County educator per day in the month of July, based on nominations received on our Facebook page, for our Teacher Feature series.