Anne Mattison has been a teacher for over 30 years. She teaches second grade at Madison Heights Elementary. 

Mattison taught first grade for more than 20 years, but she says she absolutely loves second grade. One thing she enjoys is the candor of her young students.

One instance of a youngster offering his truthful opinion happened one day when her hair was down. She says she normally wears it in a ponytail, and the boy—a second-grader who is not in her class—told her, “Wow, Mrs. Mattison. You look very pretty now,” she recalls with a laugh.

“I love teaching because I get to see the joy on the student's faces when they understand something and they know they are doing well at something,” she explains. “Plus I love just spending time with them.”

Mattison also enjoys spending time with her husband, kids, and pets. She has three children, three dogs, and a pig named Pig (also called Pig-pig.) She says she loves to travel and has been to many states including Hawaii and Alaska. She has also traveled outside the U.S. to places like Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, England, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, and Kenya.

Mattison enjoys reading, especially mystery stories, and says she had all the Nancy Drew books when she was young. She passed them on to her daughter who liked them well enough but does not share the same heartfelt affection for them.

Mattison has lived in Arizona since she was a young child. Most of those years have been in Phoenix, but her family lived in the Pinetop area for a while, she says. Mattison is an ASU graduate and received her master’s degree in elementary education from NAU. She has her English as a Second Language, Reading and Gifted endorsement.

Student Hazel nominated her teacher and writes that she appreciates that Mattison teaches her and protects her at school.

Mattison says she encourages her students to do their best, to keep working at things they may find difficult at first, and to be mindful. 

Mattison wants her students to believe in themselves and have the mantra: “I can do this, if not now, I have to keep trying.”