Mrs. Debbie Smith, Pastor Kip Smith’s wife, brings much to the table for Bethany’s music program. She recently retired after teaching for twenty-seven years in several different elementary grades, twenty-two of which were in Howard County Public Schools. Smith also served as team leader for second grade for eight years. She began her teaching career in North Carolina where she taught for five years. After that position, she took a fifteen year break from teaching to raise her two sons at home.
She views parenting as, “one of the most important jobs that God has given us to do.” This viewpoint, lead her to start a parenting blog to encourage other parents and to offer resources that may be helpful to them in their parenting journey. The blog address is www.debrasmithparenting.org.
Her classroom and life experiences make her a valuable asset to the music program. Smith continues to also teach at Bethany Church in the children’s Sunday school department and has been asked to develop a special needs ministry for the children. Because of this know-how, she is serving as the behavioral and classroom technician as the music program expands. Her techniques have always been to help educators set a framework of classroom rules for the students to follow and a schedule of events so that the children will know what to expect every week. Most importantly, Smith believes in using positive reinforcement for children–giving praise and verbal responses when they are doing a great job!
It is Mrs. Smith’s desire, “that all children who step inside our church will know that they are loved and cared for by our church family, learn that God has a plan for a hope and a future for everyone of them and that he loves them very much!”
She also holds a Master’s degree in Counseling from Loyola University in Baltimore. Besides the teaching aspect she brings to the table, Mrs. Smith herself also received training in voice while she was in high school, college and as a young adult.