By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Allen Samuels CDJR November Teacher of the Month, Plum Creek Elementary 2nd grade teacher Morgan Starkweather, is committed to her kids and to their families.
"One of the coolest things about education is getting to know each kid individually," Starkweather said. "The longer I've taught, the more leniency we have to integrate the curriculum and make it projects that the students are passionate about."
This year's class is a good example of that.
"Right now, my class is really into rocks," Starkweather said. "Rocks is not part of my curriculum, but if it's what they are into and we can learn about geology and earth and the world and places around the world with different rocks and they are reading about it and writing about it, then we are going to study rocks."
COVID continues to create daily challenges.
"Quite honestly, I don't know what I'm going to encounter from day to day," Starkweather said. "I don't know which family has been impacted or which staff member has been impacted. Fortunately, I think teachers are extremely resilient and passionate about what they do and so we will do it no matter what the situation is that we're walking into, because we'll do it for the kids."
Teachers are committed to making sure that the things their kids can't control won't keep them from learning, but Starkweather worries about newer teachers that have never seen normal.
"They don't realize that what we're going through is hopefully temporary in life," Starkweather said. "There will be smoother days ahead. For them, this is all they know. We're extremely short staffed. We're covering classes, covering para jobs, covering lunch duties, recess duties, we do not have custodians. We clean at night. I do not think people realize the stress that's been put on teachers."
At the end of the day, it's all about the kids.
"It's pushing me to extra lengths, because I'm not going to let these kids walk out of here not learning something because of COVID, or because they were quarantined," Starkweather said. "We're still going to learn it and we're going to master it. I just might have to be more creative in the way I do it or perservere a little bit more."
Starkweather has been teaching for 18 years.