ACTIONN VOICES

Bridging Gaps: Celeste Willis, Teacher 

   First grade teacher at Alice Smith Elementary, Celeste Willis, shares how the Parent Teacher Home Visits she is doing every week are changing her, as well as her relationships with the students and families.

   “I had the older sister in my class and now I have the younger one. They live with a single father and the two girls are the exact opposite of each other. When I saw them at home I realized that how the girls acted at school was the same as they do at school, but I could tell they felt freer.

   The family lives a distance from school in a low socioeconomic area in an apartment complex. During the visit the girls wanted ice cream, so we walked down a side street and a trailer park separated them from the ice cream truck. I was wondering how we were going to get there because there was a fence blocking us from the ice-cream truck. The next thing I knew, the older sister goes up to a chain link fence that looks just fine, peels it open and crawls through it. It was so bold, although it was dangerous, of course. It was one of those moments that showed how me how they survive, how they have street smarts. 

   I see that Parent Teacher Home Visits are bridging a gap and that my relationships with the families and students are so much deeper now.  I can see that this is creating a better learning environment in the classroom."