Our family moved to Falls Church City when my oldest child was entering Kindergarten. As was (is) often heard, “we moved to Falls Church City for the schools.” We wanted the support of a small school division since we do not have family in the area. We wanted to be sure our children were known by name and not by a number. We also knew FCCPS was known as an excellent school division, and that was something we also wanted our children to have. As an educator myself, I had incredible experiences teaching, mentoring or presenting in other school districts, so I had ideas of what I wanted my children to have for their K-12th grade education. For many reasons, the educational experiences I hoped for my children to have were backed by much love from caring parents as well as one parent who felt she came to this decision with some background knowledge.

My career in education began in another school division in Northern Virginia in September 2001 through 2007. The attacks of 9/11 happened on the 4th day of my 1st year of teaching. I taught 3rd grade and then 2nd grade in an amazing Title I, public school that had a focus on the arts and sciences. I was honored to work there and to learn with the amazing staff. With a cohort from this school, I began courses at Virginia Tech towards my reading specialist certification. My work at Virginia Tech landed me with an invitation to work towards a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Early Literacy Studies. I accepted the incredible offer to read, write, research, teach and present on my favorite topic: critical literacy theory put in elementary classroom practice and what that looks like and its impact on students. This change from my original outlook on my career was challenging and beyond anything I saw as part of my career goals.

My family continued to grow and I took time to be with my two little ones. I taught some courses at another university. I continued to write papers and guest speak in university classrooms around the country. I supported my Masters students as we presented at national conferences just as my professors did for me. This was the beginning of my figuring out what was next. Teaching in the same school division where my children went to school was not on the list. I ended up accepting a position teaching Kindergarten at Mount Daniel ES when my son, Liam, entered 3rd grade and my daughter, Lily, entered 1st grade.

New schedules were forming as I supported my son, Liam, and his transition to Kindergarten (he was not a fan of leaving home), and supporting my daughter, Lily, and her time at the preschool. There was a new community of families and teachers that I was lucky enough to discover. There was the dad who picked Liam up and put him on the bus when it was week 6 of school and Liam still refused to go. There were the two amazing teachers who let me know he was fine once he got there everyday for a few weeks –this was their doing and as a parent truly concerned about her anxious child, not to mention the first born in the family, this was above and beyond kind.

Time moved on, and we continued, as parents, with our encouragement for Liam and Lily with school, friends, and sports and clubs. Liam was in 3rd grade now and Lily was in 1st grade, so the elementary school years were ours to navigate. Liam was assigned to Mrs. Schimmoller’s class. Knowing that children move from the early childhood phase to upper elementary during their year in 3rd grade, my guard was up for Liam. Was he ready as a child and student to make the move developmentally? He was my anxious and nervous child and again it was time to move to a new group of students and work with a new teacher. How would Liam accept his new teacher and school year after finally accepting, and then adoring, his 2nd grade teacher. We crossed our fingers and hoped for the best, which was all we could do.

We took our first-day-of-school pictures with Liam entering 3rd grade and Lily entering 1st grade. We were all excited and nervous about the first day of school. I was excited for Liam and Lily to be with their friends and new teachers and hopeful that they had a fun first day of school. At the same time, I also had my “teacher first day of school nerves” as I was about to meet my new students and worried if I could still lead a classroom. My husband put Lily on the bus to Mount Daniel ES for first grade. Liam walked with his best friend, Henry, to (then) Thomas Jefferson Elementary School (currently named Oak Street Elementary School). The beginning of the year was full of the usual exhaustion and chaos of new schedules.

My husband and I were happy to hear our sometimes apprehensive son, Liam, start the school year by saying school was “okay.” Then we started hearing stories about the books he was reading and how he could do his work with “frindles” (pens). He was working on a project called “Dog Island.” Back to School Night gave us a glimpse at the creativity coming to life in the room, which gave us an idea of why he was content. My list of questions for Mrs. Schimmoller was getting quite long, and solidly packed with positive curiosity.

Parent Teacher conferences came and I asked my usual question of “Besides academics, how’s Liam doing?” Mrs. Schimmoller started with how Liam was observant and took his time. She explained how he was thoughtful and sometimes she called on him because she knew he had something he wanted to say. She continued to describe the learning style of my son. This was most of our conversation that afternoon, and I was overwhelmed by how she knew his ways of taking in information, processing it, and then producing an answer, opinion or observation depending on the situation. She truly knew my son and knew when to gently encourage him and when something needed more time. Our conference time was ending and she asked if I wanted to hear about his scores in math, and I politely declined as I already learned enough from our conversation. The scores did not matter to me. I wanted to hear about my son, and how he was attending to learning and growing in 3rd grade. Mrs. Schimmoller knew him and the essence of every ounce of thought he contributed throughout his day. She stood up to walk me to the door, and I stood up and subconsciously leaned in to hug her. Truly embarrassed, I apologized, but she said she was a “hugger” and it was ok.

Liam had the right teacher at the right time and it made quite the difference in him and his understanding of how he learns best. The ability to genuinely understand a child as a learner is an educated instinct that is unique. In a highly competitive area where having the best grades, being number one on the sports team or having the lead in the play seems to be what truly matters, sometimes it’s more than that. There are also the children who are not overtly “number one”. It’s also the child who takes risks, and though the result isn’t perfect, the child can reflect and try again. It’s the child who needs to listen a bit more and then enter the conversation. It’s the child who is nervous to share, but the teacher who “knows the child knows”.

Is a “Secret Sauce” tangible? Not always. The innate understanding of meeting students and colleagues where they are is not easily written on a checklist of interview questions.