When her 7-year-old niece, Jessica Flores, barged into her room, Coppell Middle School East science teacher Shelby Thompson did not know her career path would change forever. 

This path led her to Coppell ISD. And after 24 years, it will soon lead to Pennsylvania. 

But first let’s go back to the University of North Texas. Her niece saw the thick Business Law textbook that the then junior was studying. She exclaimed that Thompson would be a much better teacher than lawyer. 

This was not the first time Thompson heard this. 

Her father said countless times that she would be a well-suited teacher. Thompson disregarded the career while growing up, given the income difference between the two professions. 

However, her niece’s interruption was the first time she actually considered it. 

“It really was divine intervention. God, through my niece,” Thompson said.

Thompson has always felt a connection regarding her professional careers and her personal life. In Pennsylvania, when she’s not teaching, she will be remodeling houses, a passion gained by watching her grandfather build his own house growing up.

A couple of days after her niece barged in, Thompson went to her counselor to explore her options. She graduated with a degree in political science and a teaching certificate. 

“I didn’t have confidence, literally, until my junior year in college,” Thompson said. “When I started taking my education courses, I was so passionate about it, and it was then that I knew that’s what I was meant to do.”

Although Thompson will not end her teaching career at CISD, this is where it started. Her first teaching job was at Lakeside Elementary School, teaching kindergarten for seven years. She then moved to Mockingbird Elementary School, mainly teaching kindergarten and first grade for a year. 

“When starting in kindergarten, I would see kids who had no confidence and didn’t believe in themselves,” Thompson said. “So I would start building those relationships, getting to know them, and when I would see them doing something awesome, I would give specific feedback and say, ‘You really put a lot of thought into that.’ Empowering them, so to speak.”

Throughout her career, Thompson assists students in learning their strengths and not seeing their weaknesses as burdens.

When she switched to sixth grade science, she was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. To her, they are not weaknesses, but superpowers.

“Being able to show them you can succeed with things like ADHD and dyslexia, helping them see the other strengths that they have, rising to their level, being able to help them see it differently and be successful, it is so awesome to see as a teacher,” Thompson said. 

Since 2021, Thompson has taught at Coppell Middle School East. Although it was a struggle at the beginning, she quickly gained her footing.

“We always joke that sixth grade is like the kindergarten of middle school,” said Coppell High School science teacher Sarah Grover, who formerly taught at CMSE. “So it was the perfect transition for her from teaching super young kids to sixth grade, because they need lots of love and extra care when entering middle school and she delivered that well.” 

This year will be her last with Coppell’s sixth graders, but certainly not the last time she’s remembered. Many students view her as their favorite teacher and will continue to do so even after her move to Pennsylvania.

Her student, CMSE sixth grader Logan Yocum, was in her kindergarten class. Her individual impact on students does not go unnoticed.

“When I was in fifth grade, she would tutor me for science, and that was honestly one of the most helpful things she could have ever done for me,” Yocum said. “She will go out of her way sometimes to just help someone. Like she didn’t need to help me with science, but she did.”

Thompson’s teaching style builds her students up in order to show them how to make mistakes and learn in a way that helps them in real life. 

“I love that she doesn’t take life too seriously,” Grover said. “She is so open about making mistakes and failing but learning from it and having such a positive attitude about it.”

Thompson utilizes her science course to teach kids in this way, showing different results with every experiment despite the same instructions as a metaphor for how things can change in the real world. 

“There’s no cookie cutter way of anything in the world,” Thompson said. “Science is the perfect class to show that, because science is not perfect.”

Thompson will move north next year, ending her time in Coppell after nearly two and a half decades. She looks forward to continuing teaching and making an impact while also remodeling houses in the summer, wanting to show how homes reflect mistakes while still being beautiful–just like people. 

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