The third-grade teacher at Patoka School is the WJBD-WSIQ Teacher of the Week.
Erica Hyde has taught third grade at Patoka for five years and is in her ninth year as a teacher. She was nominated for the special things she did for her students. Hyde admits having a passion to help students who discover the joy of reading.
“A child finds a book series or an author they really like, the first thing I do is get online and order the rest of the series. I’ve got kids all the time, I have a running list of book requests. In years past before we had chrome books, I bought Kindle’s for my classroom and was using those.”
Hyde says fortunately Patoka Grade School has only gone on full remote learning once this year, but says contact with parents day or night is key when students cannot be in class.
“I need to be able to contact parents to see what the kids are really needing help with when they are not here with me. So I text parents every day and they get back to me every day and that’s what I need, for them to respond when I contact them.”
Hyde says third graders are very quick learners and were quick to grasp Google classroom and Chrome books.
“My class this year we are pretty much at the same level that we would be on a normal year. Some of that is the class makeup, a lot of that is parents’ involvement. Kids will rise to the occasion and that’s what they’ve done.”
Patoka School Superintendent David Rademacher says Hyde is a great teacher.
“One of the things we really like is just her enthusiasm for teaching in general. She’s a dedicated teacher and her caring for students comes through in everything she does.”
Rademacher is proud of the entire staff and how they have pulled together during the COVID-19 pandemic and periodic periods of full remote learning due to positive cases and large numbers of
students being quarantined.
If you would like to nominate a teacher of the week, you can do so by filling out the form available on the home page of WJBDradio.com.
