By Dani Tietz
Teaching elementary school was a dream come true for Beverly Pridemore.
“I really couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” she said. “It is all I pretended to be as a child. It sounds cliche, but I wanted to make a difference. Like many of my colleagues, I was inspired by teachers who took an interest in me and made learning fun. I wanted to be that kind of teacher for someone else.”
Pridemore has been with St. Joseph CCSD #169 since 2009 when she took a third-grade teaching position. Before that, she taught first and second grades along with reading recovery in the Champaign School District at Carrie Busey Elementary School.
A focus on reading has opened doors for many students.
“It is pretty amazing to see a kid’s face light up when they realize they have made sense out of all those letters and sounds,” she said.
The day-to-day of learning math, reading, writing and science may not stick out in students’ minds, but the annual play Pridemore puts on most likely will.
“With third graders, I especially like helping children perform plays,” she said. They gain such confidence and become so much more expressive with each play that we learn. They love the costumes, creating scenery, and performing on stage for their parents.
Pridemore held the final third-grade play last week.
Opening up the world to those students didn’t just begin and end in the classroom, though. At Carrie Busey, Pridemore used her family’s farm to teach first-grade students about growing pumpkins and popcorn.
“My husband showed the kids the various pieces of equipment that are used on the farm and my father-in-law gave tractor and combine rides,” she said. “Local farmers offered to work various activity stations and my mom and mother-in-law helped serve a “Corn Picnic” lunch. We washed, weighed, and priced our products and parents bought them at our “Farmer’s Market.” The children then voted on a charity and donated the money.”
Students returned to the farm in the fourth grade to harvest their crops.
Pridemore has always known that students and adults alike don’t just hold onto what a teacher does or says, but instead how the teacher made them feel.
“I am always proud of students’ academic progress, but most of all I want kids to remember that I care about them and will always be excited for them to succeed,” she said.
That lasting impression has left teens and adults alike to come back to Pridemore all those years later to say thank you.
“My proudest moments are when I receive a letter, phone call, or surprise visit from a previous student, parent, or student teacher who just wants to say ‘thank you’ or let me know about something exciting happening in their life,” she said.
After 34 years in the classroom, Pridemore knows her work there is done.
“I’m ready to see what this next phase of life has in store for me,” she said. “I’m hoping to spend some time traveling with my husband and spending time with our children.”
