Burwell Public School
Burwell, Nebraska
After 21 years of teaching I would like to have the opportunity to try something I have never done before and that is take a cruise. Teaching in a rural community has many traditions embedded in the culture of the school and the community. As a teacher I am in a very special place since I have the honor of teaching in a classroom where I once was a student in the room of the teacher that influenced my education greatly. The biggest tradition is that many rural teachers teach their students to find ways to serve others. Teachers in a rural setting often must wear many hats both in and outside of the classroom. A teacher’s role should not be to just give students the world though what they teach instead we must give them to tools to find their place while having the confidence of where they come from as being a place that had given them a special skill set. This is done though the experiences both in the traditional school day and though the various hands-on activities we offer as a part of the school setting. A teacher is only as good as the legacy they work to unearth in their students and daily I am thankful for the rural classroom tradition I grew up in and work to pass on to my students.