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Susie Haskins: Award-winning kindergarten teacher

David Gunter | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 14 years, 3 months AGO
by David Gunter
| April 17, 2011 9:00 PM

SANDPOINT - In a chance social encounter, Susie Haskins was asked the ubiquitous questions that often doubles as a conversation starter: So, what do you do?

"I work with doctors, lawyers, mechanics, stay-at-home moms and future presidents," she answered.

Realizing that her response had created more confusion than clarity, Haskins simplified the answer.

"I teach kindergarten," she said.

On Saturday, the Idaho PTA presented Susie Haskins with its 2011 Outstanding Educator Award. In true form, she took to the podium, waited for those seated around her to settle down and read aloud from the picture book, "Leo the Late Bloomer."

"That's me," the teacher said. "I was a late bloomer, too."

Haskins returned to school as an adult, earning her teaching degree in 1988 before embarking upon a 23-year teaching career that has gained the attention of parents and administrators alike. Most certainly, her classroom style has been embraced by her students - several hundred of them over the years - who show up on the first day of school in various stages of preparation and leave nine months later having achieved the teacher's goal for them: "They are ready for first grade."

You're retiring at the end of this school year - are there a lot of mixed emotions surrounding that decision?

Yes, because I found I really enjoy teaching kindergarten. I never taught another grade. I have really gotten a lot of satisfaction and a lot of challenge out of it. I felt like it was something I was supposed to be doing.

When I went to college the first time, right out of high school, my father told me that I was going to go into education. Being the dutiful daughter, I said 'OK.' And then when I got transferred to the University of New Mexico, the professor there told me I was going to be in secondary education with an English/Speech double major. And I said, 'OK.' After one year of that, I thought, 'No, this is not OK.' So I got married and, 20 years later, it was my decision to go back to school.

It turned out that elementary education was where my interest was and I feel like my strengths were there.

Why did you gravitate toward kindergarten?

Well, I ended up in kindergarten in 1988, when Dick Williams, the principal at Sagle School, called me up. He had a teacher who didn't show up and he needed a temporary sub to set up the classroom. A week into school, they had a huge influx of kindergarten kids. I interviewed for the position and got two sessions of kindergarten classes.

I had just graduated and I found that, wow, I really like this. I just stayed in kindergarten. Nobody ever asked me to go to another grade and I didn't want to teach another grade. I stuck with this because I was happy and I was still learning something new all the time.

Do you remember your first day of teaching?

Yeah. It was utter chaos. (Laughs) I walked into a room that didn't have very many supplies, but I did have a record player, so I brought my John Phillip Sousa marching record to kindergarten.

We kind of got through the day, but when things fell apart, I just cranked up John Phillip Sousa and we marched around the room until I could figure out what I was going to do next.

Was there a lot of marching that went on that day?

A lot of marching went on that year!

Compared with 23 years ago, how have the academic expectations changed for a child just entering kindergarten today?

A lot has changed. They're expected to come in knowing more than they did before. We still taught the same things, but we didn't expect the kids to come with their letter sounds and letter names already known. We expected to teach that to them and we allowed them to be able to play and to learn more through play than what we're doing now.

Do you think that, in general, parents understand how things have changed?

I really think that parents still think that kids come in and all we do is play. When they actually see what we do in kindergarten, they're blown away. We're expecting them to be much more fluent in their letter sounds and their letter naming. We need them to know how to hold a pair of scissors and cut and some of them don't even know what a pair of scissors are.

Sometimes I think they were almost better prepared back then. We would let the kids play and they would learn to cut and color, to stay in lines, to be polite and to share.

I think it's more difficult now.

What is a child able to do by the end of this first year in school?

When they leave kindergarten, most of the kids know their letters and they can decode short, three-sound words. Some of them will be reading, some of them will not be. Mathwise, we want them to be able to count as far as they can go - preferably to 100.

A lot of it is introduction. We introduce them to adding, subtraction and writing sentences. It's a lot of territory. Some of them understand it and some of them don't.

But they'll get it. They'll get it. It's like "Leo the Late Bloomer" - we all bloom in our own time.

Here in Idaho and in other states, there seems to be a movement afoot where some politicians want to do away with kindergarten, calling it nothing more than expensive day care. How would you respond to that?

We do a lot of preparation in kindergarten for what they're going to be able to do in first grade. Just being able to maneuver in a classroom, being able to get along with people. Socially, we work on so many things in kindergarten, like being able to walk in a line without punching the person in front of you. All of that takes time.

Some people say, 'Well, they get that at home.' Maybe. Then again, maybe they don't. Some parents aren't teaching those kinds of skills. And if you don't have those skills, it gets in the way of a child's education. Just think what a first-grade teacher would have to deal with if we didn't have kindergarten. They'd be dealing with what we have to work on at the beginning of the year.

How do you keep a classroom of 5-year-olds on task?

You've got to be ready and you've got to be right on. I move my kids around with singing, because that's a good transition for them. I sing songs to get them to stand up and get in line and keep their hands to themselves. We move around with song and they'll just click right into that.

They are such a fascinating group. They're curious and, when they want to know something, they want to ask questions. It's like herding squirrels sometimes, but it's fun.

They are a thoroughly enjoyable group of people. And they are people. Yes, they're children, but to watch them think about something, to try and get their minds around what you're saying, makes it fascinating to work with them.

Have you found that you're often the first person who has established boundaries and limits for these children? And do they push those boundaries?

They try, but it doesn't work. Because from the first day of school, after I have them sit at the table and I have the parents leave, I ring my bell. And that's something different. They look at me and they listen to what I have to say. From day one, they know right where I stand on things and I teach to that expectation.

I always use the same words: We want to be respectful and we want to be responsible kindergarten students. Do I get it the first day? No. But that's what we're working toward. Maybe some of them haven't been taught how to do it, but they can learn how to do it. Every child can learn.

After 23 years, are you starting to get some of the children of students you taught before?

Yes, and it's interesting. They're just like their parents. (Laughs) They're not exactly alike, but you can really see the similarities. It's funny to watch.

Your classroom almost looks like a television set or a theatrical stage where things are arranged in distinctly different areas. Is that a conscious layout?

Very conscious. When I set up my room, the first thing I do is gear everything from left to right and top to bottom. That's how we read. I also sit on the floor and look around the room to see what they see. You'll notice that everything is down low, because that's where their eyes are. It helps that I'm short anyway.

At this age, kids say some truly funny things. Have you gotten some great laughs teaching kindergarten?

Yes, I know I'm going to be entertained every day. But you have to be very careful, because they are so literal that they might think you're laughing at them and that would hurt their feelings. There are times when I have to turn around so they can't see my face. The very first year I taught, things weren't going very well one day and I said something like, 'Wow - we are really falling apart in here!' Well, three quarters of the class looked immediately up at the ceiling and one of the students said, 'Mrs. Haskins, is the roof going to fall down on us?' That's when I learned that you have to be careful.

Is teaching at this grade level a bit like finding the fountain of youth?

It is. Being around young people keeps you thinking about things and it keeps you young. And I figure that, as long as I can get up and down off the floor, I'm in pretty good shape. Now I'm going to have to find something else to keep me in shape.

Does John Phillip Sousa come out very much any more?

No, I haven't had to do that in a long time. But I do have the record, just in case.

I might get that out on my last day for the fun of it. I came in with John Phillip Sousa and I might go out with him. March in and march out.

Date of birth: Aug. 22, 1945

Family: Husband: Bill, passed away 2004

Daughter: Heidi, lives in Newport, R.I., with husband Tom (both in the Navy) Son: Ooli, lives in South Lake Tahoe with his wife, Colleen

Education: Bachelor of Science elementary education from the University of Idaho

Number of hours on average you work in a week: 50 to 60 during the school year

Number of hours on average you sleep in a night: 5

Hobbies: Collect souvenir spoons. I like to make things when I have time.

Favorite travel destination: I don't have a favorite destination, as such. Guess my favorite destination is the one I happen to be traveling to at the time.

Favorite book: Whatever I happen to be reading at the moment.

Favorite type of music: Most types of music that isn't so loud that it hurts my ears and I can understand the words.

Favorite spectator sport (or leisure activity): I really enjoy going for walks.

Any one person who most influenced your life: I can't limit this to any one person. I usually learn something, or gain something valuable from everyone I meet.

Quality you admire most in person: Humor and Honesty

Best advice you ever received: Take care of yourself.

Any one thing you would say is your greatest accomplishment: I have been able to find something that is good, makes me smile and is enjoyable to me every day.

Favorite quote: "People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be." - Abraham Lincoln

Historical figure you would most like to meet: Benjamin Franklin

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