Randi House said she never wanted to teach kindergarten — the students were just too young — but her principal at Theodore Jones Elementary School encouraged her, “so I took a chance.”
“It has been, by far, my favorite grade,” House said.
It turns out, she’s pretty good at it, too.
House, 36, was named Conway School District Teacher of the Year for 2018. Conway Superintendent Greg Murry and Theodore Jones Principal Tammy Woosley surprised House on May 23 at the end-of-the-year kindergarten awards ceremony, which they call the Oscars.
House said she was already shocked that she was Theodore Jones Elementary School Teacher of the Year; and she was “absolutely shocked” at the district honor.
“I broke down in tears. I never thought it was something I’d achieve,” she said.
When she started at Theodore Jones six years ago in 2011, House said, the Conway School District Teacher of the Year at that time talked to the teachers.
“I thought, ‘Wow, it’s nice of the school to do this,’” she said.
When Murry announced her honor, House said it took about three seconds for her to realize she’d have to get up and talk in front of the faculty, too.
House will represent the Conway School District in the Arkansas Teacher of the Year competition.
The end-of-the-year Oscars-themed ceremony was complete with a red carpet in the hallways.
“We go all out,” she said. It was an idea she brought to Theodore Jones Elementary from a previous district in which she taught.
The Batesville native received a bachelor’s degree in early-childhood education and a master’s degree in reading from Arkansas State University-Jonesboro.
The daughter of factory workers, House was good at chemistry, so that’s the path she started down.
“I think I always had the desire to be an educator — I always enjoyed school — but I pushed that out of my mind,” she said. One day she tried to imagine what her daily life would look like as a chemical engineer, and she didn’t like what she envisioned. “I went with my heart and went the education route, and I have not regretted it once,” she said.
House and her husband, Travis, lived in Jonesboro, and she taught first grade in the Nettleton School District in Jonesboro for five years. Then she was hired to open the first preschool classroom in Tyronza in the East Poinsett County School District, where she taught for two years.
“We had absolutely no supplies, so I taught sitting on the floor, and we ate sitting on the floor,” she said, until the furnishings arrived.
Her husband, who is an engineer, got a job in Little Rock, so the couple moved to Conway. Her first choice was to teach in the Conway School District.
She asked for second grade, but she said Woosley really encouraged her to try kindergarten, where she thought House would be a good fit.
A few weeks into the school year, House still wasn’t sure about that decision.
“At every meeting, I’d say, ‘I’m not sure God ever intended me to teach kindergarten,’” she said. “I felt like I was treading water; I felt like I was never progressing.”
It’s a high-poverty school, House said, with about 80 percent of its students on free and reduced-price lunches.
“You have 20 kids who come in, and a lot of kids have never been in a school environment,” she said. “They don’t know how to stand in a line; they don’t know how to vocalize their bathroom needs. You’re teaching basic procedures. We always joke that from Halloween on, it’s a different world in kindergarten.”
Contrary to what people think, real teaching goes on in kindergarten, House said.
“As a kindergarten teacher, some people say, ‘Y’all just play and color all day.’ I feel like we’re charged with building this foundation. We put all these pieces in place for them to go on and be successful.”
Woosley called House phenomenal when she surprised her with the Teacher of the Year honor.
“She has a way of being a huge advocate for students and putting her own unique, creative spin on the learning opportunities she provides to her students,” Woosley said.
House said she tries to balance educational objectives with providing life skills the students need.
“We cook every other Friday,” House said. “We have a garden; we grow things we can eat.”
She said many of her students have never been on trips, even to the zoo, so she tries to show them the world.
“We do everything we can virtually,” she said. Students tour the Statue of Liberty and other sites, via the internet.
“One of their favorite things is to tour the Sistine Chapel,” she said, to show them Michelangelo’s work. “We paint underneath our tables and experience how difficult that was to do.”
In a seven-week unit on continents, students pack a suitcase with what they’d take to those locations.
“I really work hard to know my kids and just provide unique learning opportunities,” she said. “I’m always looking for new things to bring in.”
House got a grant to provide wobble stools and yoga balls for the students to sit on, and she said it’s made a difference, especially for the boys, to help them be able to sit and concentrate.
“We build play into lessons, but we have to prepare them to learn to use technology,” House said.
She also wrote and was awarded a grant for an Osmo gaming system, one for each kindergarten class. Students play games that help improve their math skills and build words — there’s even a coding game on the system. “They build some pretty complex coding equations, which is impressive in kindergarten,” House said.
Last year’s Arkansas Teacher of the Year came to House’s classroom to see the Osmo gaming system in action, House said.
The students learn to type on Chromebooks.
“The reading level expectation has gone up two levels,” she said. “They’re expected to write actual opinion pieces and tell narrative stories.”
House has a love of children’s literature, and she gives every student a book on his or her birthday, at Christmas, on Valentine’s Day and at the end of the year.
Every day after lunch, she reads a chapter of a Junie B. Jones book to her students.
“I think it’s important for kids to learn the book can continue the next day,” she said.
It’s the extra attention she gives her students that makes her stand out, though.
“I strive to find innovative ways to reach my kids and provide the best for them,” House said.
She keeps food in her classroom, as well as socks and underwear. “If we need shoes, we go get shoes — whatever I need to do for my kids. They’re my kids.
“I go to their birthday parties. I watch them at their baseball games, their soccer games. If I’ve got a kid I know is awesome on the ball field, I can use that in my classroom.
“It helps build that relationship with their families; their families know me,” House said.
Kim Thompson is a big fan of House, and she said her two children, Kylee, 6, and Jamey, 8, both had House as a kindergarten teacher and loved her. Thompson lives in Conway and teaches at Maumelle High School.
“Mrs. House is absolutely wonderful. When Kylee got her this year, I was ecstatic,” Thompson said. “She’s so loving, so caring. I don’t question or think about it at all; I know my kids are very well taken care of.”
Thompson recalled that House took the time to call her one day at the beginning of the school year just to report that Kylee had gotten a classroom award for making friends.
Kylee said it’s “cool” that House is the Teacher of the Year. “She’s nice. I like her; she’s the best teacher,” Kylee said.
Thompson said she was at the kindergarten Oscars ceremony when House was surprised with her award.
“I don’t think there was a dry eye from a parent or grandparent,” Thompson said. “I think we all said, ‘OK, can you move to first grade now?’”
House said she has students who start school not being able to recognize their names, and “by the end of the year, they’re reading and writing, and that’s pretty powerful to see.”
There are other rewards.
“I cannot tell you how many bouquets of playground flowers I get every day,” she said. “They call me Momma. I fix boo-boos, and I tie shoes, and I wipe noses. You do have to be kind of a momma.
“I leave school completely exhausted and filthy every day, but I get to see so much change in my kids.”
She said kindergarten students are known for their honesty, too, no matter how brutal.
When the class was practicing a dance for the Oscars, she was dancing, too. House said one little boy asked her not to dance and said, “I think it will make it a little less embarrassing when our parents are here.”
“I said, ‘OK, I’m just trying to add a little flavor.’”
“He said, ‘That flavor’s not great,’” House said, laughing.
The children also amaze her with their generosity.
“Kids will give their snack to another kid who’s hungry,” she said.
House said the best advice she’s ever gotten is this: “Just be the teacher you would have needed as a child, and you’ll be fine.”
More than fine, it seems.
House said her goal is to learn strategies and techniques with English-language learners, which is a growing population of the school’s students. She has also completed the process to become a nationally board-certified teacher and will find out in November if she made it.
“I think before I retire, I do want to try my hand at third or fourth grade, probably fourth grade. I don’t think I’ll retire teaching kindergarten, but I could be wrong,” she said. After all, once upon a time, she didn’t think she’d like kindergarten.
Here’s something she knows for sure, though.
“I have absolutely no desire to be an administrator. I want to be in the classroom with my kids; they’re where I feel like my heart belongs.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.