Sarah Mueller’s first day as a kindergarten teacher wasn’t easy.
“I had a lot of screaming, a lot of crying,” said Mueller. “I had one student who tried to escape the room. He knocked over the aide. I remember thinking, ‘What have I gotten myself into?'”
More Top Picks Best Lcd Led Tv
That was in 2009. Six years later, Mueller, who has taught exclusively at North School in Franklin Park School District 84, is a finalist for a Golden Apple award.
More than 600 teachers in Chicago area were nominated this year for the award, which honors exceptional teachers. Based on teacher essays and letters of recommendation, the Golden Apple Foundation has narrowed that list down to 30. In early May, 10 winners will be announced.
“We’re looking for teachers who demonstrate exemplary ability to work with students, especially pre-kindergarten to third grade,” said Gloria Harper, chief program officer for the Golden Apple Foundation. “That’s when you really turn kids onto learning.”
Winners of the Golden Apple award get $5,000 cash plus free tuition at Northwestern University during a spring and summer sabbatical.
Sometime during the next month or so, two representatives from the Golden Apple Foundation will spend the school day with Mueller. They’ll interview her and also talk to the students, colleagues and administrators she works with.
Mueller, 27, grew up in Elmwood Park and now lives in Harwood Heights. Her aunt, Elizabeth Lowrey, was a teacher, and when Mueller was a child, Lowrey would give her old textbooks to play with.
“When I was 11 or 12, I decided I would do something in education,” Mueller said. “Childhood psychology or teaching. I liked the creativity that had to go with teaching, so when I entered college that’s what I made my major.”
She earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood development, with an endorsement in special education, and then applied to “many, many places.” She only got one interview — two weeks after classes started.
“The principal at the time was Judy Martin, who is now at Passow school,” Mueller said. “She saw something in me and gave me a lot of confidence that first year.”
That confidence helps, particularly with those who don’t know what’s involved in teaching kindergarten.
“A lot of time when I say I’m a kindergarten teacher, they say ‘Oh, that’s so cute, you get to play all day,'” Mueller said. “We have a lot of rigorous curriculum to get through. Reading, writing in sentences, addition and subtraction.”
And 5-year-olds may need help with other tasks.
“You have so many kids coming to you to tie their shoes, help me zip up my jacket,” Mueller said. “It’s one teacher and 17 kids. Sometimes, you get kids who have language difficulties. You have to figure out how to design whatever program is best for them.”
A year ago, she had a student who only spoke Spanish and was having a difficult time with learning the basics of reading, including recognizing letters and pronouncing letter sounds. Mueller, an ESL teacher, a preschool teacher and an office clerk designed a program for her.
“At the beginning she was really resistant to it,” Mueller said. “By the end of kindergarten, she knew all her letters and all her sounds and was fluent in English.”
To keep things fresh, she looks at the website Pinterest for ideas and activities. She also wanders into other classrooms to see how her colleagues teach.
“I observed a reading specialist to see how she does a guided reading group,” Mueller said. “I observed lessons in first grade. It inspires me and I bring it back to my room.”