Appreciating the Patience Required for Teaching

Contributors: Alesha Amerson, Whitsett Boogaerts, Celeste Fong, Omar Hamki, Logan O’Brien, and Lamario J Williams

Patience & Gratitude

A central tenet of DUBS Foundation is to promote scholastic excellence. One approach to accomplish this mission is through showing appreciation to teachers. This year, we partnered with Tarrant Elementary School (TES) for their Teacher of the Year awards. We supplemented the awards with an aloe plant because of its symbolic value. In the Arabic language, the word for aloe is ṣabir (صبر) which is derived from ṣabr, meaning patience. Ṣabr actually embodies more than just patience: endurance, refrain, forbearance, and longanimity. We believe that teachers masterfully represent all of these characteristics and more. The purpose of teaching is to cultivate intellectual and emotional growth of students, much like the practice of horticulture itself. Indeed, there are sometimes growing pains and challenges to overcome, but we believe that expressing gratitude towards teachers is the best way to show our support.

We were also able to gift each of the 3 award winners a $250 check. Money isn’t everything, but maybe it’s time we treated teachers like pro athletes (Key & Peele)! We hope that our small monetary contribution inspires others to agree with compensating teachers more. This can help recruit and retain the best talent for such an important profession.

DUBS is supporting elementary school educators because the quality of early grade school teachers can make a significant impact on career trajectory for students (Raj Chetty, PhD on Hidden Brain). We chose the Tarrant community for a couple of reasons. Tarrant is where our annual art show fundraiser is hosted at the fabulous Gallery VOX. There are just over 5,000 individuals in this small community on the outskirts of Birmingham, based on US Census July 2022 estimates. Only 8% of adults over 25-years-old have a Bachelor’s degree or higher, much less compared to the 27% for the state of Alabama. The median household income is $37K compared to $55K for the rest of the state. The school reflects the local community demographically: 60% of students are Black, 35% are Latino, and the remaining 5% include Asian, Pacific Islander, and White. Most of the school population (94% of students) is on free/reduced lunch based on parent income level. The socioeconomic data supports our belief that Tarrant could significantly benefit from additional support. Moreover, the teachers in Tarrant are amazing and more than deserving. We aim to reinforce their efforts to ensure the kids living in this community have a bright future.

The Tarrant Elementary Teacher of the Year Award winners

Sheila Lovelady: Kindergarten Teacher at TES and Teacher of the Year

Mrs. Lovelady grew up in Birmingham and graduated from Auburn. She and her husband returned to Birmingham 8 years ago after 20 years in Maryland. She has 4 children and 6 grandchildren. She loves to walk and travel.

Karla McGrady: Bookkeeper/Registrar at TES and Support Staff of the year

Mrs. McGrady was born and raised in Dora, AL. She has been working at Tarrant Elementary for 20 years. Mrs. McGrady loves walking, any type of arts and crafts, and spending time with her 9 grandkids.

Madeline Kerkvliet: STEAM Teacher at TES and Unified Arts Teacher of the Year

Ms. Kerkvliet was born in Minnesota. Having moved around for her dad’s job, she graduated high school in Tampa, FL, went to Samford University for an elementary education degree, then the University of West Alabama for her masters in elementary education. This is her third year teaching and her first year at Tarrant Elementary. She loves to unplug while working out in spin cycling classes, hanging out with friends, and trying new restaurants. A new hobby she has picked up is gardening, so she’ll be adding her aloe plant to her collection of okra, lavender, and spearmint.

We had the opportunity to briefly ask the teachers some questions about their jobs:

What can help with minimizing teacher stress levels?

Mrs. Lovelady told us, “The administration is so supportive and that's very helpful to relieve stress. They do a really nice job building community among the teachers. I think that is really helpful because then you're not walking it by yourself, you are really walking it with the other teachers and the administration.”

Principal Edmonds considers Mrs. McGrady to be the heart of the school. To help with teacher stress levels, she tries to be supportive as possible and she always has a good attitude. She’s always a sweet helper. Teachers at TES know that when they ask Mrs. McGrady for help, they can kindly get it.

Ms. Kerkvliet told us, “Having a good support system and really relying on the team that you've been given at the school. Pulling on the knowledge from the older teachers around you and asking for help when you need it. You're going to face challenges and situations in teaching that are unimaginable and really difficult (for example: home life concerns, emotional problems, issues needing child protective services, unique academic problems, etc.). No matter how you solve a problem, whether it's something that you figured out, a mentor, another teacher, or a principal, the most important thing is that the student is getting the help that they need. Having the courage to ask for your help when you need it can help with stress levels.”

How can the Tarrant community emotionally support you?

Ms. Kerkvliet said, “I feel like the Tarrant community is something that is so special that I've never experienced before. It feels like such a family because of how small the community is. It’s so amazing when you drive to school in the morning and you see kids and parents driving or walking down the same roads. We have parents that really appreciate us here, so just their continued support and appreciation. It’s awesome too how parents help take care of other children and will pick up their neighbor’s child and things like that. Everyone just helps everyone out here because life is hard sometimes.”

Praising the administration, Ms. Kerkvliet continued, “We have a great principal and vice principal here that see you as a person rather than a teacher. They ask you about your life outside of teaching and that really helps to minimize the stress and make you feel like you can do it. You just really do feel so supported here, I’m very thankful.”

How can the Tarrant community better financially support you?

Ms. Kerkvliet explained, “I feel like the funding is very sufficient. I’ve worked in private schools before and a lot of the money there goes straight to teacher salaries. I have been excited this year because I feel like I have what I need to teach my students and that's awesome. If there is anything I need, I feel comfortable asking for it from the office staff and our administration. When we are given teacher funding, it’s not micro-managed and we can spend it as we see fit.”

How can parents better engage with you?

Mrs. Lovelady told us, “Parents have a tough time working trying to support a family, trying to raise kids, and fighting a lot of the things in our culture that are not age appropriate for many children… I think parents could help teachers by just talking to their children and talking to us. Through verbal communication we build a relationship, and when we build a relationship, then we build a family and a community.” Mrs. Lovelady emphasized the superiority of face-to-face communication over texting or emailing. One benefit of the small Tarrant community is that teachers get daily interactions with most of the parents.

Mrs. McGrady believes that more parental involvement can help, especially if parents can attend more school-sponsored events.

Ms. Kerkvliet said, “As a unified arts teacher, I'm a specialist teacher that sees all 300 plus students in the building. One thing I hope to do better is reaching out to parents when their kid does something really great in class to help build positive parent communication. I think the parents are amazing in general and it just helps us when they get their kid excited for school. It’s amazing when you hear the parents say, ‘what was the best part of your day?’ when picking up their kids. That really helps to get kids engaged with their learning.”

What is the best marker of success as an educator?

Mrs. Lovelady explained, “When children in my classroom make connections with something we've learned in the classroom, to their life.” Broadly speaking, the priority for teaching should be student mastery, not test scores (Let's teach for mastery -- not test scores | Sal Khan).

For Ms. Kerkvliet told us, “Building relationships with my students. When they come to me and they give me a hug the first thing in the morning and say ‘I missed you.’ Or a student asking to eat lunch with me. Or a student telling me ‘I did what you said I should do, I took 5 deep breaths before I said something and held my tongue and it was amazing.’ Also, seeing the lightbulb moments and how excited they get. We see a lot of kids putting themselves down, so when you can help a child feel confident, that is how I know I’m doing my job well… I think sometimes we forget that teaching is not just academic, but you're with kids for 8 hours of the day. We teach them emotional lessons, social lessons, and conflict resolution skills.”

How do you increase emotional intelligence (and other soft skills) for your students?

Mrs. Lovelady explained, “We're a primary school and for a lot of these children, this is their first social interaction with people outside of their family. So much modeling, instruction, and practice happens for teaching children how to set boundaries.” She supports her kids in practicing social skills and realizing they have a voice so they can advocate for themselves in small and big situations.

Ms. Kerkvliet said, “As a specialist teacher, I really just try to meet students where they are at. If they are feeling frustrated or they're feeling unheard, I state that back to them, and ask them ‘how do you think that we can fix that frustration right now?’ Talking it out with them is a really great help because once they can identify what they’re feeling then it's a lot easier to help them.”

Do you incorporate art to better engage students with difficult concepts?

Mrs. Lovelady told us, “We're just finishing a unit on fairy tales and the elements of fairy tales. We've compared different versions of fairy tales from around the world from England, American, Native American, African Egyptians, and those in Mexico. In math we're talking about two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes. So we’ve built 2D castles and castles with 3D shapes. With reading they are starting to become exposed to and recognize the art of specific authors and books like Mo Willems, Kevin Henkes, and Todd Parr.”

As the new STEAM educator, TES let Ms. Kerkvliet created the class as she wanted. She does a lot with robots, coding, building volcanoes, color changing water experiments, and learning about weather. Each student in the school will go to her class for 30 minutes per week. If any students are struggling with math, they will see Ms. Kerkvliet to help with key foundational skills.

What do you think could help with young teacher retention?

Mrs. Lovelady reasoned, “There is a science to teaching well. There’s also an art to teaching. I think if we can remind teachers to go ahead and plug into that creative side. Don't get lost in the science of it, but remember the art of it, because that brings the humanity back to it. And that's where the enjoyment comes, because that's part of enjoying life. Because when we enjoy it, the children enjoy it.”

Mrs. McGrady acknowledges that due to Tarrant’s small size, it’s actually somewhat difficult to compete with larger schools in recruiting teachers to come to the community.

Ms. Kerkvliet explained, “Having healthy expectations for what you can accomplish in a day and realizing that you're not going to get everything done for sometimes very long to-do lists. As long as my students are safe, healthy, and they feel loved then I accomplished what I needed to do for that day. You have to understand when it's time to go home and take care of yourself. Only when you are filled up can you pour out to others. You can’t pour from an empty cup. As a young teacher, I see amazing role model educators here at TES that have been teaching for 20 or 25 years. I think it’s important to remind yourself that you're not going to get there in a day and to prioritize your students’ health and happiness as well as your own health and happiness too.”

Support from Leadership

Principal Ashley Edmonds firmly believes in servant leadership. She always tries to support teachers, answer their questions, and listen to them. The question of how to retain people in the climate of education right now is difficult to answer, but Principal Edmonds says the priority is to “make sure when people are doing a good job, they know. And to make sure people know they're loved as a human first before the job. Our teachers know when they walk through the door, they’re not just a job. They are a human first.”

Tarrant Elementary School has been performing well under the leadership of Principal Edmonds. In this school year alone, a large majority of the student body is growing toward proficiency. A major shift of 51% of students to proficiency in reading and literacy and 38% of students to proficiency in math. There were also large shifts from deficiency in reading and math (15% and 18%, respectively).

Principal Edmonds told us, “we are working hard to ensure we are supporting our students academically each and every day through quality, standards-based classroom instruction, best practices, and Tier 1, 2, and 3 instructions daily.” We hope that our expression of gratitude shows our excitement in these upward trends and provides encouragement for the next academic school year.

We would like to extend our appreciation to Principal Edmonds for prioritizing the celebration of the hard work of her educators. We look forward to continuing to support TES!