[Sly Fox]

Coming full circle

By Sarah Watson
swatson@newsadvance.com
January 30, 2007

As a child, Kelly Stone taught pretend school lessons to anyone who would listen - her parents, friends and even her dolls and stuffed animals.

Her wish was to become a schoolteacher as an adult, she said. “I even had a classroom set up in the basement.”

That dream is being realized as Stone, a senior at Liberty University, has returned to her former elementary school in Campbell County as a student teacher. And better still, she’s working in the fourth-grade classroom of her favorite childhood teacher, Sonja Yoder.

Like many of Yoder’s former students at Tomahawk Elementary School, Stone stayed in touch with her through the years. When Stone began attending LU, she told Yoder she wanted to do her student teaching at her former elementary school and thought it would be more fulfilling if Yoder could be her mentor.

Student teachers come in to classrooms and work with professionals as part of their education. The goal is for them to gradually take over the class with the guidance of their mentor and eventually teach for two to three weeks, Yoder said. “It was neat to talk to my kids in my class and say ‘Miss Stone was sitting where you are sitting now,’” she said.

“Seeing one of my former students doing something I love, seeing someone you’ve helped now being successful - it has been a blessing. Wonderful. I keep using the term ‘full circle.’”

Yoder described Stone as a “very pleasant and sweet” student who would give her little notes or flowers. Most notes would say, “I wanted to say I hope you have a great day,” Yoder said.

As with all of her classes, Yoder kept a scrapbook chronicling each year with photographs and little notes. Twelve years later, Yoder still has some of the notes Stone sent, including one that reads, “You’re the greatest teacher in the world” with a picture of a rainbow and of the world.

Stone’s fourth-grade year, in 1994-95, was unique, Yoder said. That year Yoder got married and the class participated on a special project, which culminated in a massive bulletin board presentation where each student reproduced a paper layer of a tropical rainforest.

Now, as Stone is embarking on her student-teaching experience, she is also planning her wedding. Additionally, Yoder is an LU graduate and the two share stories about professors they both had.

“When I say full circle, I mean everything,” Yoder said. “She’s kind of where I was when I taught fourth grade.”

Stone said she remembers Yoder as her favorite teacher who had a unique teaching style. “I always told her I wanted to come back and be her student teacher,” she said. “It’s a honor to be student teaching under her.”

Tomahawk’s principal Donna Brown said she’s been in education for more than 30 years and though she’s had former students come back to work as teachers, this is the first time she’s seen a student teacher working under a former teacher. “This is neat to see it unfold in this way,” she said.

“It’s affirming for me. Sometimes you lose sight of your impact beyond your classroom. All of us in education have an impact in shaping lives, even if it’s for 180 days,” Yoder said.

“It’s nice to be able to see that in her and the fact that she wants to be a teacher is the icing on the cake.”

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