This post is part of Pride & Purpose, a series profiling the educators who make North Carolina public schools great. Know a teacher who should be featured? Tell us about them!
For Shaneta Little, teaching wasn’t always the plan — but life’s demands and Union County’s grow-your-own teacher program led her to discover her purpose.
Now in her third year as an exceptional children’s classroom teacher at East Elementary School (Union County Public Schools), Little started her career in education as a bus driver in 2014.
When her oldest child matriculated to middle school in 2019, Little was in the process of completing her bachelor’s degree and decided to look for a job that would better align with her family’s schedule. She became a teaching assistant at Benton Heights Elementary School of the Arts and East Union Middle School.
Over the next three years, she developed a passion for working with students.
“I switched my major from business administration to education after being a TA and seeing the school environment,” she said. “I felt like it was the right calling.”
Through North Carolina’s alternative preparation pathways, Little was able to become a classroom teacher in 2022 while continuing to work on her degree. She is also enrolled in the Next Stop: TeachUCPS program, a partnership between Union County Public Schools, UNC Charlotte, Wingate University and South Piedmont Community College that provides a roadmap for pursuing a teaching license and financial assistance for UCPS employees and graduates.
Little got a job at East Elementary School as an exceptional children’s teacher, a role she says was a natural fit for her as a mother of two.
“These kids have so many struggles that we may never fully know,” Little said. “But I can help them grow somewhere. I have the mama role. I give them love, but I also hold them accountable. They still get their education.”
Her classroom motto reflects that belief: every student will leave with something — at least one new skill — by the end of the school year.
Known affectionately by colleagues as the “ghost whisperer,” Little has a gift for calming students, even those not in her classroom, and helping them return ready to learn. That approach has made her a trusted advocate, especially for students who are nonverbal.
“They can’t always speak for themselves,” she said. “I feel like it’s my job to be their voice.”
Little is set to earn her bachelor’s degree from Wingate University this May. Then, as part of the Next Stop program, she will complete the requirements of residency licensure at UNC Charlotte.
After many years of seeking a professional path that fit her goals, Little says she’s found her purpose in teaching.
“I’m here because I love these kids,” Little said. “And I want them to leave my classroom better than they came in.”