Good Morning Class

Good Morning Class

Terri Braithwaite flipped her red, wavy hair and laughed a little as I explained my assignment for English 1001. For some reason she thought it was funny that I asked to interview her. Before I could ask a question she said “I’ve been teaching for 25 years.” Originally Ms. Terri went to school to become a dental hygienist. However, she decided that she did not want to go to school in New Orleans so she changed her major. Teaching was not a hard decision because her mom was a teacher and “I just felt called to teach.” All 25 years of teaching, though not in the same grade, have been in inner city schools in the Louisiana community. Now at LaBelle Aire Elementary, she is in her eighth year of teaching Pre-K.
“What do I not do?” She said laughing. Ms. Terri goes early every morning to assemble the materials she will need for the day. She has to have everything she needs before her students arrive. “When the kids are there I have to be with them at all times.” This is to help ensure the children’s safety. Not only is she Teacher, but she is Mom, Nurturer, and Doctor. For example, if a child has had a chaotic morning at home she will help them to settle down and transition into their day at school. Ms. Terri is there not only to teach but to be a positive role model and love the children.
Ms. Terri does have a teaching assistant whom she considers a great asset to her class. Around 200 of the students at the school are considered to be ESL or English as a Second Language. Ms. Terri teaches Vietnamese, Hispanic, Black and White children and teaching assistant is able to speak Vietnamese, Spanish and English. This is a great help to Ms Terri when trying to communicate to some of the children and their parents who do not speak English well.
Technology in the classroom is important. “Today’s society is so technology oriented,” she says. Because of this, the school recognizes the importance for this generation of students to become familiar with the computer and internet even at this young age and is equipped with a computer lab and a traveling lab. In her class, Ms. Terri uses the computer lab to teach a basic, general introduction to the computer and the internet.
With the end of the school day brings the only dislike Ms. Terri mentioned about teaching. That is the chaos of after school dismissal. She is personally responsible for making sure each one of her students goes home with the right person. If something happens to a child it is on her shoulders and that is a very frightening feeling for her.
After school, materials and lesson plans go home to be prepared for the next day. This is also when she makes calls to parents to address any problems. Teacher/Parent communication, in her opinion, is a must to best address the needs of the children. Parents can call her or come to the school anytime as they feel the need to.
When asked what effect Hurricane Katrina had on her job she said that about 100 kids from the New Orleans area came to the school. Finding a good spot for that many kids was difficult. Because her class is federally funded, there was a limit of 20 students allowed in the class. Since this had already been met, no children who were victims of the storm joined the class. Even though she did not teach them, she was there to listen and encourage and just to spend time with these kids. It was difficult to hear some of the traumatic stories and from such young children. Some of these kids had seen people die. Ms. Terri said she and the other teachers knew it was important not only to provide for the kid’s physical needs such as uniforms, but their emotional needs as well.
To Ms. Terri it is a joy to nurture and to mold young children and to be the first one to touch their lives and help mold them into good citizens for the Baton Rouge community. She not only teaches academics but social skills. She finds she likes her job more and more and she continues teaching and daily it is a challenge.