It was a rainy Tuesday morning in early August. My very dear friend since childhood reached out to see if I wanted to stop by and see her classroom. I recently asked if I could come visit, I’m so happy she obliged!
We’ve been friends since second grade. Mrs. Cormier’s classroom is where we met. She was sitting at the desk directly behind me. I turned around on the first day of school and I said, “Hi, I’m Rachel!” And she said, “Hi, I’m Sara! Want to be friends?” The rest is history, we’ve been through it all and back again. Best friends for almost 30 years now!
She is a fourth grade teacher, teaching anything and everything from Math to Science, to English, and Geography! You need knowledge of a little bit of everything to be an elementary school teacher. Having all that knowledge to fourth grade students is a far different perspective than that of an adult. They haven’t experienced a lot at that age, and yet they know it takes magic, it takes a super star to be a school teacher!
She starts early August setting up her classroom. There’s no way one could do it properly and efficiently if they wait until the first week of school. There’s just too much for one person to do. So she starts early, with no paycheck in the near future. That’s after a summer of tutoring. She can’t go the whole summer without pay. Teachers don’t get to enjoy the summer like the kids do.
So selfless, indeed, you must be to be a teacher. To care so much about the young minds and what they truly need to grow. Knowing that the stipend of $234 per year will never cover all the supplies you need to make this happen. One large box of Crayola Markers: $56. One runner rug of numbers and shapes: $43. One set of 10 cushions: $70! As you can see, that $234 stipend won’t get you much further. And I haven’t even touched paper, notebooks, pens, books, lessons, or the visuals these young minds need to learn this curriculum!
A first year teacher’s classroom will probably be pretty bare. Donations from other teachers, furniture you bring in from your own house, or school supplies that are absolutely necessary for the lesson are all on the teacher. They need to spend money on college for a degree. Then they need to spend the money they haven’t earned yet on school supplies to start off on the right foot in their career. Starting out is not easy, especially when you have bills to pay!
My friend has been teaching for 14 years. She’s accrued furniture via donations over the years. She’s even refurbished book shelves herself for her classroom. She’s put her heart and soul into a career that won’t ever give her the pay she deserves.
Yet, she does it. She does it out of love and compassion she has for the students. For the children who come to her with many questions. For the children who bring all their frustrations from home with them to school. For the children that have felt like they didn’t belong at some point in their life thus far. She does it all for them. She believes that if she can inspire one mind, ease one frustration, she could possibly change the world. I can’t think of a better way to change the world than one young mind at a time. And she starts off with 24 of them! That’s a lot of minds to feed, a lot of emotions to tame, and a lot of love to give when you know that the financial gain is low. And yet, she does it anyway.
While visiting her classroom, she showed me all the pictures of students she’s had in the past. There was a whole collage dedicated to the students for pictures of what they were passionate about. Anything from hiking in the woods, to canoeing, to horseback riding, to playing in the snow with their pups on a much deserved snow day. Everyone of them happy in the moment, enjoying their favorite hobbies outside of the classroom. And they shared that with their favorite teacher, because she cared so much about them living a life of their own dreams and passion.
The students also adorn her with gifts they create or find along their journeys. Snake skin sheddings, rocks, a hedgehog made out of a book, a clay figure of God, animal bones, drawings, dead bugs, you name it. She has collected so many gifts throughout the years and has a closet full of them! And she knows where each and every item is located. Just in case she or another teacher in a nearby classroom needs a prop to show the students or a visual of a lesson being taught. I don’t know how she does it!
She has a ‘Positive Reinforcement’ program she spends her own money on monthly as well. She keeps tickets in her pocket, waiting to catch a student doing an act of service or focusing all their effort into their schoolwork. Anything from answering a question correctly in front of the class, to helping another student pick up the books they dropped on the ground. Anything goes, as long as you are showing your kindness and compassion towards others and yourself.
At the end of each month, the students put their tickets into cups for a raffle. They can all take a chance at bringing home a new shiny toy. Some students put all their tickets in one cup, some take more of a chance putting them in different cups. Some students go home with something, and others go home empty handed. The beautiful lesson in this is that, when you put the hard work in to be a good person, to always work hard and complete all your assignments, it is never a guarantee you will go home with everything you want.
And yet you must go home at some point, so you might as well be happy either way. There’s always next month. And if you save up all your good deed tickets until the end of the year, well you have a better chance at getting that shiny toy you really wanted. That’s discipline. It’s a good lesson, not only for the students, but for your friend who came to visit your classroom before the school year began. I learned so much from this one visit and for that, I am grateful.
Take a chance. Put all your effort into something you love, and you will go home happy, everyday. Believe in yourself. Believe in how much your voice can impact others in a positive way, and you can change the world. One mind at a time!
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