Lynne Denison is marking her 20th year as an educator — and all of it has been as an eighth-grade math and algebra teacher in Iowa, La.

“I think that I should have realized in high school that I was destined to become a math teacher while I was tutoring upper-classman math around my parents’ dining room table,” she said.

But first her journey included earning a degree in accounting before ultimately realizing that destiny.

“I became a teacher through alternative certification upon the insistence of the principal at my children’s school,” Denison said. “The timing was right since all of my four sons were enrolled in school at the time.”

She said she initially took a long-term substitute teaching position and quickly realized the profession was for her.

Denison — who said she considers herself “a numbers person” — enjoys the challenge of finding alternative avenues to solving math problems.

“Math was always my favorite subject because it’s something different each day,” she said.

Denison said though she varies her teaching style from day to day, she has noticed she tends to use bits and pieces of styles used by the educators who made the biggest impression on her.

“My learning environment is based on structure and routines,” she said. “Within that environment, any number of instructional techniques can take place.

“It all begins with whole class instruction,” she said. “Within that instruction by questioning, circulating and embedded activities I can determine individual understanding. I also think that spiraling back to previously learned standards is important. I can do this with the use of technology.”

Denison said the most important thing for her is to know her students, teach a concept multiple ways and set high expectations so that they are successful learners. She also emphasized the importance of STEM-based — science, technology, engineering and math —subjects.

“These subjects help to build the knowledge that students will use in the future for medical advancements as well as the technology used for research,” she said.

Denison said the classroom is where she belongs.

“It’s rewarding to see students change their opinions of math,” she said. “Many come to me not believing that they can be successful in math and leave the eighth grade with full confidence that they will be successful in math in high school.”