New teacher 'excited' about first day of school

The crayons are on the tables. Posters will soon adorn the walls. There are still copy codes to memorize, computer programs to learn, and final tweaks to first-day plans.

And back-to-school jitters, even for teachers.

Sedalia resident and new teacher Lisa Everhart watched her children attend Horace Mann Elementary School.

On Thursday, she will start shepherding first-graders on their own journeys.

The new first-grade teacher is one of about 40 new teachers in the district this fall.

Everhart, who teaches at Horace Mann, busily decorated and set up her room Monday in preparation for her class. Her room had been the library — moved upstairs — so she started with an empty room.

“It looks pretty bare in here, but it won’t after today,” she said.

The jitters are setting in as Thursday approaches.

“I’m extremely nervous and really excited. Everyone’s been extremely helpful, so I don’t feel like I’m alone,” Everhart said.

She said she’s trying hard to remember all the things she learned about how to run a classroom from Wynee Akers, under whom she student taught.

“I’ll learn a lot this year; this will be a big year to learn” for both her and her students, she said.

She had yet to meet any of her students — no students came in early to meet their new teacher — and did not recognize any names on her class list.

“We’ll all meet each other for the first time” Thursday, she said.

Everhart, 43, said she decided to become a teacher when her oldest daughter, Nicole, 23, went to college.

“My girls went to college, and I went to college with them,” she said. “I helped (Nicole) fill out the paperwork and I got the bug myself.”

Teaching is a profession she said she’s “always gravitated towards. I love books, and I love reading.”

She student taught at Parkview Elementary School, and was excited when the job at Horace Mann became available.

“I really enjoy this age group and this curriculum,” she said.

She plans to start the first day day getting to know her students, establishing expectations, and doing a lesson on nursery rhymes.

If she has any problems, she knows just where to turn: fellow first-grade teacher and mentor Nancy Hurt.

This will be Hurt’s second time as a mentor to a fellow teacher.

“It’s a lot of the just first-year stuff,” Hurt said. Everhart can check in with any questions or for advice.

The two started talking in July.

“I’m just supposed to be the person she can be comfortable coming to with everything,” she said.

Everhart will be great with students and parents, said Wynee Akers, who supervised Everhart’s student teaching two years ago.

“I think she’ll work very, very hard, and she has a lot of enthusiasm,” Akers said.