By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Tish Petitjean is the Allen Samuels CDJR Teacher of the Month for January. Petitjean is a kindergarten teacher at Union Valley Elementary. She said the technology may have changed, but the kids are still the focus.
"Kids are amazing," Petitjean said. "I think the curriculum has changed, because we have preschool that is more readily available than we did when I started, so we have kids that are more prepared coming in. Of course, the pandemic has been a big shift, so we've gone to more technology. Some of that is amazing and some of that, it still needs to be taught by the teacher."
It's so important to stay focused on individualized instruction, according to Petitjean. It's also important for kids to learn in kindergarten how to get along with one another.
"Those soft skills, I think, have become more focused," Petitjean said. "We realize how important they are. We definitely want academics and we want the rigor, but we also want those soft skills, because they are life skills."
Petitjean has been in USD 313 long enough that she has community members now that she had as students.
"What I really enjoy the most these days about teaching is seeing those students grow up," Petitjean said. "Some of them, I could go to a doctor, or I could go to so many professions. The best thing is, I get to know those families. Back in the day, I did home visits and I got to know them. I still do a lot of communication with families, so I'm not only getting to know the student, but the family. It's just neat, because those former students, I'm having their children. Or, they'll call back if they live somewhere else and they may ask me a question about education or their child, or something and that is the most rewarding of all. That's why we're in teaching."
Petitjean notes that when she talks to those adult students, she asks them what they remember of kindergarten and that's what she continues to teach. She said a lot of the time, it's about the acts of kindness even above the academics that they still talk about. Petitjean was a 2006 state finalist for Kansas Teacher of the Year.