Youngsters, especially pre-school age children, are intellectual sponges. Language experts have researched the cognitive abilities of young children as compared with older children, teenagers, and adults in their ability to grasp a new language, and the difference is staggering. The little ones hit it out of the park.
If you were able to channel those innate, age-based abilities into an advanced, interactive academic setting, think of the results.
That’s the challenge, the goal, and the result of a program in Shoshoni that seeks to accomplish this.
The women making this happen are veteran teachers with years of hands-on experience with children in the traditional classroom and in special education.
Annie Good began her teaching career in Arizona with her husband Jody, who is a physical education, assistant football, and track coach at Shoshoni.
“We met in Arizona. We decided to move here, where education is better,” Annie said.
She is currently an elementary special education teacher.
“It’s a very comfortable working environment,” she said.
Previously, she taught fourth and fifth grade in a traditional classroom setting. She’s been teaching for 29 years.
During that time, she also worked in both elementary and secondary special education.
“I have to keep learning,” Annie said.
That’s a theme that runs through the Shoshoni teaching staff from pre-school through college prep courses, learning, improving, and pushing the envelope.
“I try to incorporate team teaching to a high degree,” Annie said.
She related the effect that team teaching had on one young student.
“We had a little boy on my case load,” Annie said. “Inclusion works. If he didn’t have the support system we provide, he wouldn’t be in the regular classroom.”
Annie’s partner in crime, if you will, is Heidi Christensen. Like the Goods, the Christensens both work at Shoshoni. Heidi’s husband, Damien, is the vocational education, welding instructor and FFA sponsor at Shoshoni High School.
Heidi is focused on the power of reading and how it is the pathway to academic success and future success as adults.
“When we picked a reading curriculum, we chose one that matches all kids,” Heidi said. “If they’re above grade level or below grade level, we have a book for them.”
This type of focused instruction yields huge dividends, as students grow not just physically but also emotionally and academically.
Heidi is the Shoshoni Title I director and a preschool teacher.
“I support kids that don’t’ have IEPs,” Heidi said.
For the non-teacher, there are many acronyms in education, especially in Title programs and in special education.
Title I is a federally funded program, its goal is to ensure all children have a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, helping struggling students meet challenging academic standards.
IEP is an acronym meaning Individualized Education Program, in essence, an instructional plan for a single student with special needs, as opposed to a traditional classroom that teaches to a group of children holistically.
Heidi has a BA in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in early childhood education. You’ll find most of the Shoshoni elementary, middle, and high school staff with advanced degrees.
Working across the building in coordination with Annie and Heidi are Crystal Myers and Heidi’s daughter, Kodi Christensen, in the preschool classroom.
Another integral part of their team is former Riverton Police Chief Eric Murphy, a para-professional whom the children love to interact with.
Youngsters don’t have much interaction with men at the elementary level. In many schools, the only man in the building they encounter is the custodian.
“Eric is a big part of including,” Annie said. “The kids look up to Eric.”
Heidi concurred, “Our paras are amazing,” she said.
The child is the objective; nothing else matters. Team teaching covers the uncovered areas of a child’s education.
“Inclusion and team teaching do the job,” Annie said. “We work together in writing and math strategies.”
Though they are veteran teachers who have ridden the tide of fade and fancy that dominates education, they’re still excited to arrive in their classrooms each morning.
“I’ve been at it for 29 years,” Annie said. “I have more fun today than any time before.”
Working with agencies outside the walls of the Shoshoni school also involved coordination.
“We partner with CDS (Child Development Services),” Heidi said. “If any of them need support, we have it in place.”
Annie has a different academic prep than most elementary education teachers. She earned her first degree in secondary education, then picked up two master’s degrees. The first in Elementary Education and the second in Special Education.
There is a nationwide teacher shortage, now estimated in excess of 1.2 million positions. Shoshoni has an answer for that locally as well.
“Wyoming is seen as a state with a teacher shortage,” Annie said. “We have numerous people in our school working on teaching degrees.”
Heidi has a unique perspective on her role as a special education teacher after teaching third, fourth, and fifth grade for 25 years. She now works with those same grades as a special education teacher.
Teachers Tammy Nicholls, a recent graduate of Shoshoni High School where she was a standout athlete in volleyball and basketball, and Kodi Christensen worked through Central Wyoming College as part of their preparation to become teachers at Shoshoni Elementary.
The short walk from Annie’s classroom to the pre-school room traverses a hallway filled with happy, committed children who will make a difference in the world once they progress through the system and become energetic, contributive adults.
Stepping into the pre-school room was an overdose of cuteness with four-year-olds happily working at tables on projects, grabbing afternoon snacks with Crystal Myers, or happily reading books like “Fox in Socks” by Dr. Seuss or “Go Dog Go” by P.D. Eastman.
The youngsters were engaged, excited, and working hard without realizing they were working. That’s the mark of outstanding instruction, and it’s just an everyday occurrence with the early childhood instruction at Shoshoni High School.
These children are being provided with an invaluable gift, the gift of imagination, the gift of discovery, the gift of being part of a community and finally, the gift of a quality, safe, loving, instructional setting.