Teacher Appreciation Week: Jessica Duckett of Kiddie Country Learning Center

For Teacher Appreciation Week, we’re highlighting a few of our teachers from around the country. They are sharing some of their insights about the teaching profession, what it means to them, and what their experience has taught them.

The first teacher we will highlight is Jessica Duckett from Kiddie Country Learning Center in Burke, Virginia.

Jessica is a lead teacher in the pre-kindergarten classroom at Kiddie Country and has more than 16 years of experience in early childhood education. She has taken on various roles in her career, including leadership positions, and as a result, brings a wealth of experience to the Kiddie Country team.

What is one of your favorite things about teaching?

One of my favorite things is having families and children come back to me in different capacities. Just recently here at Kiddie Country, I’ve had children in my class whose older siblings I’ve had before. For example, I have a little girl in my class now whose sister I had back when she was two. The older sister is eight now and is in our school-age program. It’s like I’m seeing families grow and it’s a privilege to be part of that.

What is some advice you would give to yourself when you first started teaching?

Be patient. When you first start teaching, you think that you’re supposed to be constantly teaching them. And I think that’s what society tells you: teach them, teach them, teach them. But I think we forget that they’re so little, you know, they still have a lot to learn that isn’t teachable. Sometimes, they have to experience it and I think that if we’re patient, they get those experiences and we get to be part of it.

Patience for me is listening to the children and really taking time to let them answer. If you ask a question or you’re looking for a response, give them time to do that. Give them time to really analyze what’s happening instead of jumping in all the time. Instead of trying to control the narrative, let the kids control the narrative. Take a step back and kind of humble yourself. Be patient and let the child experience and be a part of what they’re doing.

I think that, in our society, we want to make things happen right now – today. And I think we do that with kids. We tell them how it’s supposed to be instead of just being patient and seeing what they come up with. Sometimes we should see what they do and follow their lead.

How should other teachers celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week?

Spend time with your co-teachers. We come to work, we do our job, we go home, and we come back to work, so you spend a lot of time with your co-teachers, but I don’t know that we celebrate each other enough. I think that the gifts and stuff are nice and the parents are always so generous and that’s appreciated, but I think that teachers need to celebrate each other during Teacher Appreciation Week because nobody really knows what we really go through other than a teacher. Parents can say ‘Oh, I know. I have two children at home.’ Okay, but I have 17 here! [laughs] It’s a huge difference! So I think that teachers just need to find a way to celebrate with each other and spend time together.