A teacher who has been at the Apostolic Christian Academy since it opened 31 years ago is this week’s WJBD-WSIQ Teacher of the Week.
Tracy Claunch is also a nurse but said after completing her degree she found teaching to be her calling. She is one of the teachers in the third through eighth-grade learning center at ACA.
“Curriculum was called Accelerated Christian Education and what it does is it just teaches children at their own paces. So they take paces, and our job as teachers is to facilitate their learning so if they get stuck on a concept, which they do often in math and English, that’s our job. To help them out and prepare them for tests or book reports or things like that with them.”
Claunch feels the teaching methods help students learn responsibility.
“I feel like they are responsible to get their work done, do projects and things on time. We do stay on top of it but as they get older they get more responsibility and they get more leeway as far as setting their work. They just have to be done with a certain amount of paces per year. Any way they wish as long as they stay on top of it. It teaches them time management and be responsible.”
Claunch says teachers and students both wear masks and they have been able to stay with in-person learning throughout the school year with no cases of COVID-19 spread from the school. She admits last spring was difficult when students learned remotely since a number did not have a good internet connection.
Claunch says that led to a lot of individual help over the phone that made long days. As far as what is her favorite part of teaching?
“Ah-ha moments when the students get what we’ve been teaching them or they’ve been striving for something and we’ve been working and all of a sudden they wake up and they get it, pass it and are successful, that is my favorite part. Helping the students.”
Claunch also enjoys having different students come through the school all with their unique needs for assistance.
In addition to the third through eighth-grade center where each student has their own office or cubicle, there is a center for kindergarten students and another for those in first and second grade.
