When students become the teacher

Like many teachers in this district, I began my LKSD journey teaching well outside of my comfort zone. My certification is in secondary social studies, but when my husband and I were hired to work in Atmautluak, I was offered the position of Reading Interventionist. I had very little experience teaching reading and even less experience working with children under the age of twelve. Needless to say, I felt a bit out of my depth.

For an hour and a half every day, I took a group of third and fourth graders for remedial English. These kids hated reading with a passion and made no effort to conceal that fact from me. Tantrums and shut-downs were common occurrences in my little classroom. I had many days where I felt completely hopeless- that I would never be able to reach these children.

One day, during free reading time, I had sat down with another student to answer a question he had, and when I turned around to come back to my table, I was arrested by the sight of three of my most struggling readers snuggled like puppies, clustered around a book. One student was reading Are You My Mother? to the other two and they were hanging on his every word. Through my excitement and happy tears I managed to snap the picture below on my phone.

Though the rest of our year was by no means perfect (we still had our good days and bad days), I always had this moment to draw on anytime I needed a pick-me-up. To this day I keep a copy of this picture at my desk to remind myself to celebrate every victory and hold onto them when times get tough. Sometimes teaching can feel like a thankless job, but when you see that moment where things just “click” for a student, it’s pure magic!

Audra Lopez

Elementary Interventionist

Atmautluak

2015