Chelsea King has known most of her life that she wanted to be a teacher. As she enters her ninth year teaching with Metro Nashville Public Schools, she feels like the time has just flown by. 
King is a native of Lebanon in Wilson County, where she grew up with her parents and two older sisters. She attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and changed her major a few times before she landed on becoming an early childhood education scholar.
“I was a student teacher for a second-grade class as well as a pre-K class, and I really loved teaching pre-K, so when I graduated, I was searching to find a position in a pre-K classroom,” King said.
She wound up in Nashville, where she started her teaching career with MNPS at the Ivanetta Davis Early Learning Center. She taught there for four years before transitioning to Cambridge Early Learning Center, where she has taught pre-kindergarten for the past five years.
As King reflects on her childhood, she says she was taught early on that education is important, and she took that to heart.
“I loved learning and being at school, and I’ve always had good relationships with teachers and school experiences,” King said. “As a child, I enjoyed pretending to be a teacher and always thought about becoming one.”
In the classroom, King teaches her students basic skills that align with Tennessee State Standards such as writing their names, letter and number recognition, counting, and identifying shapes and colors, to name a few. As a pre-K teacher, she understands that teaching fundamental skills prepares students for success from their primary years, well into high school and beyond.
King enjoys teaching in her classroom, but she also appreciates the leadership and mentoring roles her principal has allowed her to take on. This school year, she has a practicum student in her classroom whom she mentors and prepares to become a teacher one day. King has also been provided opportunities to present lessons at faculty meetings and lead the planning for school events at Cambridge ELC.
“Chelsea is so very sweet and kind. She is very patient and consistent with all her students, and she ensures that they leave her class ‘Kindergarten ready’ each year,” said Cambridge Executive Principal Deeanne Miree.
“She is a leader and is always willing to lend a helping hand with all school events. Chelsea has great relationships with the staff and her families. Her personality is infectious, and she is a blessing to have at Cambridge.”
When King is not serving the families at Cambridge, she enjoys hanging out with her husband and family, going to Tennessee Titans games, trying new restaurants, listening to live music and spoiling her dog, Remi.
MNPS Pre-K and Early Learning
Our district early learning program has a nationally recognized, play-based curriculum. Get to know our program and learn more about the Pre-K application process on our early learning website.