This month, we’re excited to recognize another one of our outstanding Phoenix Academy teachers – Keri-Jo Micek. This is Mrs. Micek’s second year at Phoenix Academy, but she has been working with children for over 27 years! She currently teaches kindergarten and first grade at Phoenix Academy.
We took a moment to chat with Mrs. Micek about her time at Phoenix Academy and what’s going on in her classroom this month.
What inspired you to go into teaching?
I always knew I wanted to do something to help people. I thought I wanted to be a nurse at first, but I can’t stand blood or vomit. And so, I thought – teaching! When I was little, I would always play school. And I’m always that person at the restaurant or at church who is peek-a-boo-ing or playing with the kids. It just seems like I can have an instant connection with pretty much every kid I meet or see!
What do you like about teaching at Phoenix Academy?
I love the smaller classroom sizes. At a previous school, I had as many as 27 kids in a classroom! I feel like the smaller classrooms at Phoenix Academy allow you to reach kids a little bit better and easier. I also love the programs we use here. They’re research-based, and we use that to guide our teaching and the different materials we use.
What’s something you’ve been working on in your classroom so far this year?
We’re working on learning and practicing social-emotional skills right now. One of the ways that we do that is we reward students for using these skills by placing candies in a jar. When the jar is full, we have a classroom party. This way, we’re rewarding students for small, positive behaviors along the way, and we also provide a big reward at the end to show that we work together as a team, and we are a class family. We just recently had a slime party, and each student got to make their own bowl of slime!
We’ve also been talking about how we can already “read” books, even though we can’t read the words. We can “read” the pictures and let our imaginations and creativity tell a story. We spend 5-10 minutes every Friday just simply looking at books!
Thank you, Mrs. Micek, for everything you do for students at the Phoenix Academy!