Grain Valley News
  • Home
  • About
    • Submit Your News
    • Contact
  • News
    • Voter Resources
    • Online Puzzles
  • Events Calendar
  • Job Board
  • Best of Grain Valley
  • Support
    • Advertise
    • Become A Sustaining Member
  • Home
  • About
    • Submit Your News
    • Contact
  • News
    • Voter Resources
    • Online Puzzles
  • Events Calendar
  • Job Board
  • Best of Grain Valley
  • Support
    • Advertise
    • Become A Sustaining Member








​news

First year teachers prepare for their first day with students

8/19/2021

 
     Students are not the only people feeling first-day jitters as school begins next Monday. Teachers, whether they are first-year teachers or veterans, are filled with nervous excitement as well. For first-year teachers Rachel Stewart and Olivia Riley, a summer of planning and preparation have kept them busy, and both are anxiously awaiting the first day on August 23rd.
     Rachel Stewart is a first-year teacher and new science teacher at Grain Valley High School. Stewart will be teaching freshman physical science and sophomore biology. A native of Jefferson City and graduate of Southeast Missouri State University, Stewart is new to the area and the district.
     “I am so excited to be in a district that really cares about its students, and I’m excited to build relationships with my students,” Stewart said.
     Stewart explains her path to the science classroom was pretty much a foregone conclusion.
     “I had phenomenal science teachers and each of my siblings went into science fields. My mom worked for DESE (Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) and my dad was a supervising operator at the nuclear power plant where I lived, so you put those two things together and you get a science teacher,” Stewart quipped.
     “I’ve always had a passion for science and I’m such a social person, teaching was just the right fit for me.”
     Olivia Riley lives in Grain Valley and grew up in Lee’s Summit. Riley graduated from UMKC’s Conservatory of Music and is starting her first year of teaching as a music teacher at Matthews Elementary.
     A lifelong love of music paved the way for Riley to pursue a career in teaching music.
     “I really want to be that teacher that plants the idea that music is for everyone,” Riley said.
     Riley said the expansiveness of the elementary music curriculum is what she loves most.
     “The inclusivity of it is wonderful. We get to experience a full tour of music.” 
     Meetings for first-year teachers began two weeks ago, and their schedules have included a flurry of professional development sessions, meetings, and classroom preparation.
     “It’s a lot of stress, but we have such a great team in this department. They’ve really taken care of me,” Stewart said.
     “I don’t have any family up here, so it’s been a challenge. Having this community that is so open and welcoming really makes a difference.”
     During an August 10th meeting for first-year teachers, the Grain Valley Education Foundation presented each teacher with a $100 check to help with supplies and classroom set-up. Stewart and Riley said the contributions are incredibly helpful as they prepare for their first year.
     “That $100 means the world to me. If you look around my classroom at the decorations and supplies, almost all of it has been purchased by me, given to me by my parents, or given to me as graduation gifts. It’s very expensive, and that $100 can help me when I’m teaching, and I realize that a poster or model might help me get more hands on with my students or better explain a difficult concept. That $100 can be stretched so far. I had chills when they presented them to us,” Stewart said.
     Riley agreed that the $100 gift helped relieve some of the stress of preparing a classroom as a first-year teacher.
     “I knew as a teacher that most of the supplies and decorations were going to have to be purchased by me. It wasn’t even a question. Instruments are so expensive, so I knew my classroom budget would go for most of those items. After we received the gift from the Foundation, my mind was immediately racing, thinking of all the things I could purchase that could be used immediately by students,” Riley said.
     Now that all of the prep work is coming to an end, Riley and Stewart are working through their first day of school jitters and focusing on the year ahead.
     “I’m most looking forward to getting to meet my students. All of this preparation we do before hand is stressful, but once all the prep work is done and the students are in the classroom, I won’t be thinking about that. I am so excited to have that first moment of actual music making. After more than a year of not having those experiences (due to pandemic related mitigation efforts), I’m really excited to safely get back to some of those small musical moments,” Riley said.
     “Our freshman will be having the same first-day jitters that I will be having. It’s the first day of high school for all of us. But it will be a great year,” Stewart said.
 
 
Picture
Picture
Picture

Comments are closed.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Burton Kelso
    Business
    Cathy Allie
    Celebrations & Transitions
    Census
    City Of Grain Valley
    Columnists
    Community Profile
    Covid19
    Covid-19
    Economic-development
    Education
    Elections
    Financial-health
    Fitness
    Food Inspections
    Good News
    Good-news
    Grain-valley-assistance-council
    Grain Valley Fair
    Grain Valley Historical Society
    Grain-valley-partnership
    Grain Valley Schools
    Health And Fitness
    Health-and-fitness
    Home And Garden
    Jackson County
    Kindness Awards
    Ld
    Letters
    Local News
    Looking Back
    Lorne-meinershagen
    Missouri House Of Representatives
    Missouri Senate
    Musings From The Middle
    Neighborhood View
    On-the-job
    Pets
    Police Blotter
    Quick-news
    Rdn
    Recreation
    Sally-whitaker
    Seniors
    Senior-send-off
    Sports
    State Of Missouri
    Technology
    Tracey-shaffer
    Transportation
    University Of Missouri Extension
    Waynes-world

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018

Grain Valley News

Grain Valley News is a free community news source published weekly online. 
(c) 2023 Grain Valley News

Contact Us

PO Box 2972
​Grain Valley MO 64029

Privacy Policy
Picture