Reflections on Forty-Three Years in Education

 Reflections on 43 Years of Teaching

     When I first began teaching in 1983, my job was with the Special Education department of a school in Lincoln, NE. Our room served as a pull-out classroom for students requiring additional academic support. I met Kim Crow while I was teaching here. This made me want to know more about the special needs population. So, the lady who was “done with secondary  education” went back to college after just one semester in the classroom. I worked during the day and attended classes in the evening, some classes with Kim and some with my neighbor in the apartment complex. Robin.

     After two years of working for Lincoln Public Schools, we moved to Southern California. I was five months pregnant when we moved. I got a job at a privately owned daycare center, teaching two year-olds. Here, I met my friends Karen and Jennie. The private sector was so different from the public sector! There were no rules. Classrooms were overloaded. Children were sent home with parents who were obviously high, and ownership was just in it for the money. (It has since been shut down.)

     Once my first child was born, I did home day care for specifically infants. There was a huge need in the area where we lived. Licensing to provide home day care was lax, at best.  I did this, providing detailed daily written reports to my families on everything from meals, diaper changes, nap time, to milestones in growth.     

     One day, when I was at the park with my child, I noticed that she was trying to give her “blankie” to another child on the playground. I decided that it was time to get more socialization for her. I was offered a job at a church-based daycare center.  While there, I wrote, trained staff, and monitored a developmentally appropriate program to be used in their infant/toddler room.  It was the best of both worlds! I could take my child to work with me.

     In 1989, my child and I moved back to Nebraska. There, I went back to school to renew my teaching certificate. After taking the classes I needed to renew my teaching certificate, we moved to Missouri. In Missouri, I did substitute teaching while having two more children.

     We moved back to Nebraska, where I opened my own preschool. I ran that while helping to manage a restaurant, with three little kids. We were there for four years.

     We moved to Kansas. I got back into teaching by being a substitute again, ultimately landing a job in Leavenworth as a kindergarten/preschool teacher.  I had so many amazing friends while teaching there: Kim Hancock, Holly Schreiber, Ursula Jackson, Bonnie Hill, Christy Jones, Jodie Brice.I taught preschool in the morning and kindergarten in the afternoon. The following year, I would get my preschoolers as kindergarteners.  It  was heavenly to have those students and their families for two years! Talk about relationship-building!  This was also the time that a Master Cohort was offered. There were 15 of us that completed the program. A third of us were kindergarten teachers! About this time was when someone with a lot of power decided that kindergarten should be a full-day program. I was asked if I preferred kindergarten or preschool, with no context. I said, “kindergarten.” My principal said, “Oh, good! Then you can stay in this building.” Preschool was being moved to another building in the district. I taught in the Leavenworth district for ten years.

    We moved to Hutchinson. This was where my former principal had relocated to. I called him to tell him I was moving to the area and he might see me subbing in his building. He told me he was in a principal meeting and there was a building that needed a kindergarten teacher.  I spent 5 years in that building. I met wonderful people there! Kay Jones, Kelly Curry, Kim Stinle, Rod Rathbun, Jesse Ediger, to name a few. When a preschool position opened in the district, I applied for that and was accepted. I transferred buildings.I taught preschool in Hutchinson for three more years.  When I was in Hutch, I was introduced to Jim Sporleder, my edu-hero. He is the person who talked about being trauma-responsive, beginning my journey into learning more and even speaking at national and international conferences.

About this time, the “powers that be” decided that preschool should be a full-day program.  The preschool programs that were housed in individual buildings were now moving to a central location….with the students that had behavior problems. Seriously?? Our most impressionable children were going to be in a building with students that screamed, cursed like sailors, and ran off the school grounds. I put out feelers for another job.      As luck would have it, there was an opening in a neighboring district.  I taught for three wonderful years in the South-Hutchinson/Nickerson School District. Here is where I had the best paras EVER!  Brandi and Katie were amazing to work with. They had the best senses of humor! We called ourselves The Dream Team!  This was also when the damn-demic hit. I was honored to be on the district team and the state team of educators that planned and implemented how we were going to move forward.  Let me tell you; teaching during the pandemic was amazing! We were allowed autonomy to be as flexible as we wanted to be.

     Then we moved to Topeka. I taught for one year in a very interesting situation where a group of low income homes had been converted to individual classrooms. It was an experience. The remainder of my time in teaching was at another school in the Topeka District.I met many amazing people working in Topeka, too! Kristie McBratney, Dr. Gardner, Eva, Keisha, Rachel, Andi, to name a few.

     Let’s not forget those who made this journey what it was. Never a dull moment, for sure. That is the children. Children are little sponges. They absorb everything! You never know what’s going to come out of their little mouths. And every day was an adventure! The children and their families are what made this journey so memorable. I will carry a part of each of you in my heart.