Elementary Teacher

Elementary Teacher
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 7^th 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.