Nothing seemed to work for new teacher Christine Hinkle after spending four years in college working towards two different degrees and then deciding in the end that neither of her options would suffice.

“I was never satisfied working in either one of those careers,” she said. 

New English teacher at CMR, Christine Hinkle, said she’s made a career out of going to college, but that career helped her find what she calls her super power.

“Installing that love of learning into students who are very much hating it, is where my talent is,” she said.

After Hinkle tested out her skills in both medical records and paralegal training, she said she wanted to go back to her love of teaching.

Hinkle returned to the University of Montana and earned her Bachelor’s Degree and endorsements in special education and reading endorsement for K-12, but she wasn’t done yet.

“I went back and got my administrative degree, masters,” she said. “I got a second Master’s Degree in early childhood development with the University of Montana.” 

After she had filled up on her degrees, Hinkle’s plan for her career in education continued to move along. 

She said she always knew she wanted to be a teacher, ever since she was a little girl, but even now she dreams of growing in the profession. 

“And in my life, even though I have lots of choices and a lot of credentials” she said “I can choose just about anything, special education teachers are in such high demand,.” she said.

Hinkle has worked in her 19 years of teaching to aid special education students the best she can, getting all the credentials and certifications she can to better her students. 

Although she has worked for nearly 20 years in the Great Falls district, she faced challenges when Covid temporarily shut down the world.

“I’ve had to go through a lot of changes, especially coming out of Covid,” she said.

Covid wounded students learning careers around the world in many ways, and teachers like Hinkle were the ones who had to help kids back from that.

“You start to make that transition from learning to reading, to reading to learn,” she said. “Those primary skills like decoding and all that kind of stuff happens when you’re young, but without those learning skills kids begin to struggle.”

Hinkle has worked her way through her career to climb over her obstacles, but the reward in the end makes it all worth it, she said. 

Her work with kids who struggle the most make it worth it for her. 

“And so what I do here is bring out the best, the very best in students who have really bad habits, that are reluctant learners.”