Teacher Appreciation Week: Charnequa Glenn

Charnequa Glenn is a lead teacher at Kiddie Country Learning Center in Burke, Virginia. Her love for teaching began in college when she proctored a psychology class and really enjoyed helping fellow students. After graduation, she was offered a teaching job with slightly younger students: 2 and 3-year-olds. This allowed her to combine her newfound love for teaching with her natural love for children, and she has been at it ever since.

What are some of your favorite things about teaching young children?

I feel it’s special because we’re like their first teachers. And I love to see how they absorb information and then go home to tell their parents everything they’ve learned in the class. That’s a great feeling because that means that they’re retaining the information that I’m giving them as their teacher. I also enjoy making the lessons fun and engaging for the children.

With seven years of experience behind you, what is something you would tell yourself when you were first starting?

I’d tell myself that I’ll be okay. When I first started, I honestly was scared to start because I didn’t know if this was the platform or the route that I was trying to go. I just knew I wanted to work with kids. So if I could go back, I would tell myself that this was it, this is where you need to be, and you’ll love this job so much.

I’m in school now getting my master’s in early childhood education with a minor in special education. So I’m doing that all together now and I feel like with the help here and the school leader helping me encouraging me and motivating me, all that lets me know that I chose the right path.

What do you like best about working at Kiddie Country Learning Center?

The previous job I was at before here, they didn’t really care about their staff. I’m just going to be honest: they didn’t care. But when I came here, I immediately felt more loved. I felt comfortable here. All of the staff here have been warm and welcoming ever since my first day, almost two years ago. I just love that because I’m a very jolly and happy person.

What is something you would tell somebody who is just about to start teaching?

It may be scary the first couple of years, but eventually, once you warm up and get used to your children and get used to actually teaching, you’ll be fine. For me, during my first year, I didn’t know if this was what I really wanted to do. Especially if I didn’t know how to help a child who couldn’t communicate what was going on. It’s those moments where you’ll feel like, ok, maybe this isn’t for me. But from that experience and learning and learning from others how to find ways to help that student, you’ll be fine. Now, I feel great. I feel like I have the best team. I don’t feel like I won’t be able to do something because I can’t do it because I know someone on my team can help me.