STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — Teacher Feature is sponsored by Kogan & Disalvo.
Even though it’s summer, we’re continuing to highlight teachers who went above and beyond spring semester.
CBS12 News’ next “Teacher Feature” within the Martin County School District balanced responsibilities in the classroom, while earning her degree through the district’s “Grow Our Own” teacher initiative.
Keandra Bell is one of 12 teachers who earned degrees as part of this program and now leads her own 2nd Grade classroom at Pinewood Elementary School in Stuart.
“I love it. It’s exactly what I was hoping that it would be. I was a para before this, so I have a lot of classroom experience, mostly with these kids, but even before then, I was an extended day counselor,” said Bell. “It’s kind of just been a slow progression of getting more in the classroom and having a bit more responsibility and getting to work with the kids more. So it’s, honestly, it’s been amazing.”
Bell says as her 2nd Graders begin to gain more independence, there’s lots of big lessons to learn before making the big jump to 3rd Grade when state testing begins.
“The jump academically from second to third is huge. So, a lot of my kids will be kind of worried about that. They get kind of scared like and I’ve seen third grade academics. It’s very intense. But I always tell my kids that more so than just the academic side of things, I always loved being in classrooms where the teacher cared more than just about our academics,” said Bell. “They cared about who we came out of their classrooms as people. So I tried to teach a lot of important lessons of characteristics and things like that too. In our classroom, we uplift each other like family. In here, they know that they can come to me for anything.”
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With this being Bell’s first year as a certified teacher, she says her students have also taught her valuable lessons.
CBS12 News’ next “Teacher Feature” within the Martin County School District balanced responsibilities in the classroom, while earning her degree through the district’s “Grow Our Own” teacher initiative. Keandra Bell is one of 12 teachers who earned degrees as part of this program and now leads her own 2nd Grade classroom at Pinewood Elementary School in Stuart. (WPEC)
“Absolutely, I’ve always said that I should start writing down the things that my kids say to me sometimes, because the wisdom that they have at surprising moments is it makes you laugh, and then you go home and you think about and you’re like, Wow, that was profoundly deep for an eight year old,” said Bell. “But it’s been like that no matter what grade level I’ve been with, I’ve been with littles from, you know, three years old in pre-K and then up until fifth grade. So, I’ve seen a wide range of like, where they are in life and like, the differences and similarities. Being with kids actually has healed a lot of my inner childhood things, it’s they’ve taught me to be a lot kinder to myself and that there’s a lot that I still have to learn as well. I if there’s things that I’m still struggling with, why would I expect for a kid to be, you know, an ace at it, like, you know, I’m learning from them as much as they’re learning from me. And there’s a lot that they’ve taught me over the years how to not take myself too serious. Like, I remember when I first started, I was like, okay, to be kind of that they have to respect me. And then as time went on, I was like, hey, respect is given and earned.”
As students are now out for summer, Bell tells us she hopes her 2nd Graders left her class feeling calm and prepared, knowing they can do anything as they get ready to enter such a transformative year like 3rd Grade.