Elementary Teacher
by M.C.
by M.C.
It was an early overcast Monday morning
when I drove to the elementary school where I would conduct my observation and
interview. I approached the school’s front door and made my way through the
hallways. My destination was classroom 315, Ms. Brocker’s Pre-K class. As I
continued through the halls, I was excited and nervous. I could hardly wait to
see what the day would hold for me. After I found the classroom, I turned the
door handle as my excitement mounted. As I opened the door, a sea of noise
flooded my ears. Eighteen preschoolers were seated on a big floor mat saying,
“I know! I know!” A woman standing at the front of the classroom looked up at
me and gave me a kind smile, introducing herself as Ms. Brocker. She told me I
could take a seat, directing me to a round children’s table.
After taking a seat, my eyes scanned the
classroom. Bulletin boards hung on the wall, with one holding a craft the
students had constructed of turkeys made from sticks and leaves. Different workplaces,
such as a castle reading nook, were scattered throughout the classroom. The
classroom rules and dry erase board hung prominently on the front wall. After taking
in my surroundings, my eyes were directed to a big checkered floor mat consisting
of five rows with six different colored squares in each row. The children were
seated on the squares and I soon figured out that each child had their own square
to sit on, from the interjections, “Bobby, stay in your square,” or “Sally,
move back in your square,” said by the teacher. All eyes were directed towards
Ms. Brocker, who stood in front of an easel containing pictures of fall, which she
reviewed and taught to her class.
Once my eyes focused on the teacher and
the lesson that was being taught, I could see that she was no newcomer at
teaching. She held the attention of her students and when she asked questions
was attentive to their responses. When students weren’t listening to a
classmate who was talking, she would say, “Listen up. Your classmate is talking.”
While she continued to teach the students about fall items, I was struck with
the enthusiasm and passion that Ms. Brocker had for teaching. She skillfully
corrected the students when they gave wrong answers, encouraged them to try
again, and celebrated when they gave correct answers.
After Ms. Brocker finished teaching about
fall items, she energetically introduced the topic of Thanksgiving and asked questions
to assess the students’ knowledge of the holiday. She then asked the students what
they were thankful for and told them to share their responses with their
neighbor. After a few moments, Ms. Brocker told the students to tell her what
they shared. During this time, I saw how she gave special attention to the ones
who needed it. When a little girl was having trouble expressing what she was
thankful for, Ms. Brocker waited patiently and gently encouraged her. While
they were telling her what they were thankful for, one student said, “I’m
thankful for you, Ms. Brocker!” Instantaneously all the children followed and
started saying they were thankful for Ms. Brocker. Smiling, she said thank you
and that she was thankful for all of them. One student ran up and gave Ms. Brocker
a hug. She said to the student, “Thank you! Y’all know Ms. Brocker loves her
hugs!” As she was saying this, the whole class then proceeded to get up to give
her hugs. She stopped them, and said, “Thank you, after the morning lesson y’all
can give me hugs.”
Ms. Brocker continued to teach the class about
Thanksgiving, then read a book about the holiday. When she finished, Ms. Brocker
asked the class if they wanted to plan a Friendsgiving. An uproar of yes’s
issued from the students. To have a Friendsgiving, she said, “We need to plan
the party.” Ms. Brocker told the students to break into their small groups. As
I watched the students plan the party, I saw how talented Ms. Brocker was with
children. She was encouraging with the ideas the students thought of and helped
them come up with ideas when they were stumped. When a few minutes passed, she
told the students to come back and sit on their squares. Then, Ms. Brocker sat
in front of the class and went over the plans the students had thought of. She
was very positive with the student’s ideas, saying how they were all so good.
Once
she finished going over the plans, Ms. Brocker told the class it was time for
recess, which was held inside due to the rain. A student chose a song from Go Noodle, which is a song and dance
moves video library. A smile came to my face as the students joyfully and
energetically danced along to the video with Ms. Brocker following right along.
After the second song had started, Ms. Brocker made her way over to me and
asked if I had any questions. I thought of how kind it was of her to ask if I
had any questions amidst the busyness of the class.
Later
in the day, Ms. Brocker told me she had always liked children and she used to
babysit when she was younger. She went to Southeastern University and while in
college, she decided to become a teacher. She had always liked history, so she
decided to become a history teacher by graduating in secondary education, focusing
on history. With her degree, she taught 7th grade history, but stopped
teaching when she had her own children. After her children grew up and were in
college, she decided she wanted to teach again but realized she didn’t want to
continue with middle school. She went to LSU to get her master’s in early
childhood education. When she received her degree, she said, “I knew in my
heart that that is where I was supposed to be.”
Ms. Brocker was a kindergarten teacher for
approximately five years, but when she changed schools, the only position
available was pre-k. She decided to take it and as she said, “Loves it!” Ms. Brocker
has been a pre-k teacher for ten years. She told me that teaching is very time
consuming, “It’s long hours, it’s lots of prep, it takes a lot of your personal
time away… but it’s a tradeoff and in your heart if you love it, you love it.” When
asked what some of the beauties of teaching are, she said, “Seeing those aha
moments.” She told me, “It’s amazing what those little minds can take in.”
Even after she retires, Ms. Brocker still
thinks she will have some involvement with children, whether that be with
seminars or at her church. She said, “I don’t think you just walk away from a
career like this.” Smiling she told me that she might even come back as a
teacher’s aide. I could tell from speaking with Ms. Brocker that she really
thinks of her job as a calling and I was very grateful to have met her.
At the end of the day, Ms. Brocker wished
me well and told me if I needed anything to let her know. As I walked to my car
and drove home, I thought back over the day’s events. Watching Ms. Brocker
teach and then talking to her afterwards has shown me that teaching is not only
her profession, but as she said, “It’s a passion!” Being a teacher requires
sacrifice, but for Ms. Brocker, it is a sacrifice worth making. Ms. Brocker
loves what she does, and you can see that by the way she teaches and how she
lives out her vocation.
