Children – Page 3 – Janis Sexton…Teacher…Advocate

Graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida, on March 18th, 1972, just three days after my twenty-third birthday… I was so ready to influence; moreover make a difference for our children… Being a mother of a two year old, I was so excited to make that impact!

I was so willing to travel ninety miles a day to teach at an elementary school in a diverse community…So, on April 1, 1972, I began this journey, to Browning Pearce Elementary in Palatka, Florida… At the time, we had just gone through integration, and that particular school had two campuses… One originally being the school for African American students, was now the school’s intermediate grades…And I was to finish the year in a fourth grade…

Boy, how unready I was… Yet so very excited…It was the last ten weeks of school, and I was assigned to take over a for a seasoned teacher, who was relocating to Tallahassee to be with her husband …

I might have cried most days feeling overwhelmed, however with the wonderful assistant principal, and a caring colleague…I made it through!! Learning so very much ; This challenging opportunity was just my beginning!!!

The next year I was then assigned to teach kindergarten …Not being certified, I was required to get early childhood classes from my alma mater, University of Florida, to be certified in early childhood … This wonderful placement was an opportunity for such growth… My love for young children, and an appreciation of diversity thrived…Many of whom had been migrants…

My next opportunity in my teaching career lead me a little closer to home, now I was only traveling about 30 miles a day to a newly integrated community elementary school… Alachua Elementary…Another diverse population of young children…first working as a paraprofessional, then teaching first graders….

This placement was for sixteen years, from seventy four to ninty; These were exciting times for public education and children coming from diversity… I felt my passion for teaching flourish …The federal government was providing programs and resources for our children…
At Alachua…I have some of my fondest memories in my years of teaching…I had the wonderful opportunity of team teaching with Mary Towers, a seasoned teacher…We taught together for nine wonderful years…teaching high risk first graders…in one such federally funded program…“Early Childhood Preventative Curriculum”,ECPC…

I learned so much about the developmental ablities of young children with the challenges they may face… However, with a smaller class size, and the extra assistance of an aide… And curriculum developmentally appropriate….I was to learn later, that many of our children grew into successful adults…

Upon Mary’s retirement in 1984, which tremendously impacted my growth …

I had another strong influence on my career, team teaching with Wetona Johnson…We taught together for five years…teaching first grade in Chapter I; Another federally funded program giving young children extra reinforcement in reading and math skills…

I must also thank the the two principals I worked under at Alachua Elementary School, who guided this growth…

First of whom was Mr. Bill Irby…A man of tremendous integrity… When Mr. Irby retired…this wonderful community even built an elementary school in his honor…
The second was another strong leader, Mrs. Pansy Post…who became principal of Alachua when Mr. Irby retired…Mrs. Post brought such a creative flair to Alachua…

I must again acknowledge and appreciate these opportunities that instilled such values making me the strong teacher I was to became; sixteen glorious years at Alachua Elementary …

I was now forty years old…a seasoned teacher ready for my next learning opportunity…And now I was closer to home, by less than five miles… Terwilliger Elementary…A neighborhood school enriched with diversity….A wonderful blend of students…This was nineteen eighty-nine, and public education was changing, not for the better… Here in Florida, we especially felt this impact with the “No Children Left Behind Act” thanks to our Governor, Jeb Bush… If it weren’t for the blend of wonderfully talented and professional teachers; and that mixture of diverse students, these years were filled with such blessings… I was able to teach upper level students: a year in fourth grade, and five years at fifth grade…Both were great… I also had the opportunity to teach second grade for five years…Even taking an educational sabbatical where I was able to attend the University of Florida in graduate level courses in counseling education…

However, due to health issues, I retired in 2002… after thirty years… I was so proud of my years of inspiring and influencing children…

I still had more to accomplish in my teaching career….More children needed my influence, especially in the times we were heading, in the twenty first century…

So, I was so blessed to be able to resume my teaching career in 2008…at Idywild Elementary, a diverse population of children where many of my students were from challenging homes situations….

I was back teaching first grade…. where, with the many years of experience, I was able to provide my children a strong, structured, safe and loving classroom…. Moreover, with a strong support staff providing our children the best education we were able…And, given these times of less funds…more testing and developmentally inappropriate curriculum…

Our children were successful!!!…

As for me…What a gift I was given…to be able to teach eight more years, thirty-eight in all …I then felt I was ready to retire from my teaching career …in 2015…

These last eight years at Idywild turned out to be my most rewarding…I truly felt I had made that difference I so hoped when I began this journey!!!

And now have the time advocating for our children, and their right to a strong public school education….

Reflections

“Must… 💗Parents…”

Posted on February 15, 2017November 17, 2022 by Janis Sexton

It is my belief that our schools have always relied on certain fundamental qualities affecting its climate; the children, the teachers, the staff…and the parents…

Thus affecting the outcome of our children’s ability to learn and become successful…

And now, more that ever…in these most difficult of times, even when our government is trying to dismantle this sacred of institutions…our public schools….These fundamentally necessary, must be supportive, working closely in conjunction with the teachers…providing a climate where children can succeed…

The one most critical factor… The support and involvement of Parents...

I have learned that having parents involved in my classroom has been valued deeply; though our communications and their support…Moreover, when an opportunity arose, having that extra pair of hands, in a variety of classroom activities such as: field trips,class parties, and special programs… My classroom had always been a welcoming place to my parents; inviting them to just come in and observe…

Back in the Seventies when I began … Parent involvement focused on specific parenting workshops designed to encourage parent participation…Parents who needed extra support learned to make and take materials to use at home with their child…These workshops really got many parents involved..At this time, we were so fortunate to receive appropriations from government to fund these programs…

During these later years, I have found it somewhat of a challenge to have parent involvement… with a population of our parents… Our school has had to become more creative in coming up with a variety of ways to maintain a strong parent involvement… that would include: dinners, fairs, special programs, and performances …successfully bringing many parents in; allowing us to provide essential communications, free books and learning materials for our parents to take home…Hopefully encouraging them to use these books and materials at home with their child…

Another critical component to our parental involvement that has been successful, was making visits to the home, especially for those parents not able to come into school…These home visits would give me a better understanding of the home life of my children….In addition, if needed, we could rely on our school guidance counselor for assistance…However in the last fifteen to twenty years, the school counselor has been over loaded with extra demands, not enabling he or she time for counseling our children as much, and no time to assist on our home visits…

In the later years we had the opportunity to utilize an additional resource person, a school social worker to help with parent involvement.. Our school social worker was a bridge between home and school… a warm caring resource that helped our many parents in need..especially those who lived in poverty…

…As a teacher working with diverse children who come from impoverished homes; where so many of our parents were not able to be as involved in part do to their unsettling circumstance…I was then able to appreciate the benefits that our social worker was able to accomplish, providing the necessary resources from our community to many of our parents in need..

However due to cuts in funding, we no longer have this wonderful resource available…

Through all the many years…my school, along with the many other schools; because of their love and concerns for children have done all they could to find a way to get parents involved…

And moreover, in the later years…Personally, spending much of my time communicating with my parents through daily communication in their child’s daily planner, making necessary phone calls, sending emails, and making home visits…My door was always open, welcoming them to come visit, or stop by to just have lunch with their child…Our classroom was a safe and loving place…where their child was going to be successful… “We were a team”…

I am eternally grateful to my parents for making the time♥️

“Our Children…New Year 2017”

Image• Posted on January 1, 2017August 3, 2025 by Janis Sexton

This time of year, back in the day…My classroom was the place for fun that enhanced our learning….We had time to incorporate into the curriculum, learning through special art and creative poetry projects that were made for our parents, as holiday gifts…

We truly enjoyed taking two special field trips to magical places that our children got to experience first hand: visiting a pumpkin patch farm and the viewing of the Nutcracker Ballet…Some of our children would never have had those opportunities…What learning!

We spent a great deal of time learning and appreciating different cultures and how they celebrated the season…And finally, the children couldn’t wait for the culmination of the celebration of the season with our holiday cookie exchange…Then off for winter break!!!

It is my hope that our public school teachers continue these beautiful traditions for our children…As we know, there are those children who especially need to know the Beauty of the Season…

This could be a Season of Miracles…

Our Season of Thanks….

Quote• Posted on November 23, 2016November 22, 2022 by Janis Sexton

Mission, Reflections

School Spirit…

Posted on September 6, 2016January 14, 2020 by Janis Sexton

With the beginning of a new school year, and the start of my second year since retiring…I am ready to reflect on those many wonderful memories …

The one I do hold dearly is that all through my thirty-eight years…I truly appreciate my children allowing me such a wonderful platform where I could utilize my unique sense of drama and creative talents into my teaching..

In today’s challenging times, with fewer resources, and many demands of teaching; even after these many years; It was the children’s love and innocence that provided me with passion to inspire them utilizing my enthusiasm and my strong sense of spirit…

They were a wonderful audience where each day was unique… And led to my success I felt as a teacher…

It was always my goal to find the fun… And now, I can recollect those moments of fun a teacher shares with his or her children… Through this captive audience, my children allowed me to keep my spirit alive…Keeping “the child in me alive”…

When I first began teaching in the early “Seventies”, I was young and fresh; our curriculum allowed time for the fun…We got to bake more often…Play and theater was a big part of the day…I myself enjoyed the opportunity to use drama in the classroom… I felt like I was playing a role, putting on a performance…to engage with the children…Never a dull moment…Each day was a new beginning….The years flew right on by….

Teaching the children of today, has certainly become much more serious… than just the “play”… I have needed to become a strong, positive role model… incorporating “my spirit’ to get their attention…even to manage behavioral issues…

For many of the children, I was their one positive constant in their lives… Utilizing my drama and creative spirit to reach them, even for that moment…Hopefully touching their lives forever…

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Choices for 2016…

Mission, Reflections, Thoughts About Children

Politics in the Classroom..

Posted on March 2, 2016May 27, 2023 by Janis Sexton

Having taught back in the early seventies, post Civil Rights Movement and having the most important opportunity teaching all children especially those that were mainstreamed from our society that practiced segregation …I can remember just like it was yesterday, entering into teaching with such passion that reflected my idealism and hope…As I do speak for myself; many of my colleagues felt as I did…

I can even remember entering the classroom for the very first time, summer of…1970…doing my first field experience in preparation for my becoming a teacher….

I was going to “Change the World”…And “Make that Difference”!

The political climate of the Seventies was definitely pro education…It was more than just rhetoric… Federal programs such as Head Start with such a strong emphasis on early childhood education and Title I programs that assisted those children who struggled with their learning…were being funded and implemented…

Parenting groups also began at this time, providing such educational and informative workshops for those parents who needed support and encouragement; Hopefully in the end, becoming more knowledgeable and involved in the educational needs of their child…And I too, even had the wonderful opportunity to be involved with…

I feel so blessed that I was able to be a part of this history; fueling my passion for saving children …So much so , that most of my forty years have been in primary education…

Over twenty five years as a first grade teacher, of which ten of those years, teaching children that were not on grade level…

This political climate of pro funding continued through the Eighties … However by the early Nineties there was a most definite shift… … the result from the direction of our politics right here in Florida, under the Governorship of Jeb Bush. .. Sadly, his politics encouraged the privatization of education, detrimentally affecting our children with the… “No Child Left Behind” Movement…And I as many feel the beginning of Public Education’s struggles….

Public Education was most definitely not a top priority any more…We teachers felt this in our classroom everyday… We had to deal with the strain of more standardized tests, and more biased accountability… This was now the beginnings of vouchers and the privatization of education…Our children were now feeling this emphasis, more demands and less resources…We teachers, feeling so unappreciated…and devalued…And more than ever the blame with all the reasons schools were failing…

“Our children were being left behind”…

My first twenty years flew by so…Teaching was such a joy…

However, through the Nineties, and into this New Millennium with the demands and fewer resources due to this political shift…Society’s politics has impacted families thus affecting our children… Children are now coming in to school less prepared…More of our children live in poverty and have emotional and physical issues… …And we teachers with all our creative talents have such unrealistic demands…Our classrooms are micromanaged and we are being assessed on how proficient we are…We educators have always felt being accountable is extremely essential…Children deserve the best… However we are not being assessed fairly due to the limits placed on with testing and collecting data… Many teach in overcrowded classrooms and fewer resources at our disposal….

How will the Politics of Today play out? …Thanks to President Obama Passing…The Every Child Succeeds Act, no child will be left behind…

Some of the rhetoric has been ecouraging fewer tests and even giving recess back to children….

I feel this can be a fresh start, and we may be going back to a time in History… the politics of the Seventies when all our children were important…We must prioritize funding Public Education for all our children…

My Time is “Now”…

Image• Posted on June 4, 2015January 15, 2020 by Janis Sexton

I am now in the final weeks of my career as a public school teacher…🍎

Reflecting on my thirty-eight years; I have taught so many children from grades ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade; dating back from 1972, up to the present.. I even had a wonderful opportunity teaching a college seminar for beginning teachers at the University of Florida, while on a sabbatical working on an advanced course work in counseling education…

I feel so blessed…touching the lives of so many children….

I did have to retire briefly for five years due to my health…However, I still was able to advocate for children in the court system during that time as a Guardian ad Litem…

Teaching, being an advocate for children has been my lifetime passion…

I have such mixed feelings about my retirement…

It is my strong belief that I am leaving at a time our bright intelligent children, especially those from poverty, who solely rely on our public education system are not being adequately represented…Our priorities for children are hindered by an emphasis on testing and collection of data…Our schools that teach children from challenging homes have fewer resources making teachers such as myself overwhelmed and devalued by being micromanaged…And making all this even more difficult;
fewer strong, young, professional teachers will no longer commit to such a rewarding career...

For this I have such regret…

As for myself…I will always feel the need to advocate for our children, and their right to a strong free public education…
And know that I really did make a difference!

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