PITTSFIELD, ILL. -- Our second KHQA Excellent Educator of the year takes us to Pittsfield, where one teacher has spent 27 years in the classroom.
Mrs. Gina Rylander teaches 5th grade at Pikeland Community School.
Her students say her passion and enthusiasm for learning are contagious.
Mrs. Gina Rylander said, "My dad was a teacher, and a college professor. I just knew how much he enjoyed his job, and I liked kids a lot, so it was a good idea. The best piece of advice he ever gave me was remember to teach kids, not a subject. And if you teach kids and love the kids, then the subject material comes later."
What's kept you in the field for so long?
Mrs. Rylander answered, "I like it. Everyday you come to work, and everyday it's something different. I have a wonderful group of teachers that I've worked with over the years, and it's just fun to come to work."
She said, "The best part of the job are the kids and getting to be around the kids everyday. The challenges are the funding with education right now and trying to do more with less and also trying to find the time to get everything in that the mandates expect us to teach within the time frame that you have to teach it."
Grace Guthrie said, "One of the great things about my teacher, Mrs. Rylander, is that we get to do a lot of fun stuff while we learn instead of just learning/having to do unfun stuff."
Austin Miller said, "She has a good way of explaining things and teaching things. One of the things we're doing in social studies is playing Jeopardy, where we have categories where we can be playing a game, and studying at the same time."
Do you have any advice for someone thinking about going into the field or someone just starting out?
Rylander answered, "Listen to your peers. The older teachers really have a little bit of advice. They've helped me through so much."
Any advice 4th graders who are going to have her next year? Grace Guthrie said, "Don't talk a lot. She doesn't like that."
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