January 27, 2017
By KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT
Rutherford County Schools
After 42 years of teaching and coaching, the late Gerald Johnson had a simple lesson for his daughter Kellye Goostree.
He wanted to make sure her kids always believed they could be anything.
Goostree was married and raised a family before she ever enrolled in college at Middle Tennessee State University, where she earned her undergraduate degree in less than four years followed by two master’s degrees.
Her first year of teaching in the Rutherford County Schools system was her father’s last year in a classroom.
A poor kid from a big family in Franklin, an anonymous donor paid for him to attend Battle Ground Academy. Johnson then came to Murfreesboro as a teenager, where he was a three-sport athlete at MTSU in 1950s and has since been inducted into the Blue Raiders Hall of Fame.
He passed away in 2010 from Alzheimer’s.
But he lived long enough to see his daughter – “he was a great force in my life” – become principal of Brown’s Chapel Elementary School.
Goostree, who married one of her father’s former players and keeps a photo taken of them during one of Maplewood High School’s football games on her desk, read the letter before her first day.
She’s reread it many times since.
“It was about kids,” Goostree recalled. “When they leave us they need to feel successful and well-rounded. It’s the foundation. Elementary (school) is what sets your feet on the path.”
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In February 1947, Martin Luther King Jr., wrote a column titled “The Purpose of Education” for the student newspaper at Morehouse College. Much of it, including “intelligence plus character — that is the true goal of education” is remarkably contemporary.
Today kindergarten, first and second grades, kids learn how to read. Then in third, fourth and fifth grades they read to learn.
Reading has always been the basis for education.
But now, 70s years after King’s famous column, many educators believe relationships are the foundation for long-term success in school.
“First it starts with relationships,” said Scott Bolden, principal at David Youree Elementary, who added, “You have to get the relationships built first and then the learning comes in and takes place.”
Bolden is in his 14th year as an educator.
As a first grade teacher at Eagleville School, he said he spent the first month building a relationship with his students.
Learning is made easier once a teacher establishes a relationship with students that fosters trust in the classroom, Bolden said.
“Once you have that,” he said, “they will do anything for you.”
Goostree agreed.
In fact, she recalled her own first grade teacher.
“I don’t remember any particular lesson,” she said, “but I remember feeling comfortable with my teacher. I remember she would give me a hug if I needed one.”
Goostree added, “She had an ear for me. You remember those things and I think they’re absolutely the cornerstone.”
Judy Goodwin, who is the principal at Barfield Elementary and has 44 years of experience in education, said the No. 1 priority is “how a student feels.”
Goodwin talked about the emotional experience of elementary school.
Students need to feel loved and in turn they feel safe.
In a safe environment kids are more willing to try new things.
Like Goodwin and later Goostree, Bolden has transitioned from the classroom to an administration role.
However, he and his assistant principal Felicia James have made it a point to learn the name of all 803 students enrolled at the school. Bolden estimates he can name more than 600 of them by sight, which is evident when he greets students as they walk past.
“You get that child on your side and then they go home and they tell mom and dad about their teacher,” said Bolden, who requires each of his teachers to either call or email every parent twice each semester with good news regarding their child.
Bolden said the administration also reaches out to parents “to brag on students.”
Using the analogy of a bank, Bolden said that by making at least four “positive deposits” every school year, it makes it easier on teachers and administrators when they need to “make a withdrawal” and call parents to discuss disciplinary or other issues involving their child.
Using this philosophy, the first contact is almost never negative.
Much like the relationships with students, these relationships with parents oftentimes carry over from elementary school to middle school and eventually to high school as well.
Bolden is trying to create a positive experience for everyone.
It’s important to engage parents, all three administrators said.
Bolden said “getting them involved is a great way to success,” but it’s not always easy. Goodwin said you can never take anything for granted.
Some students come from single-parent homes, where mom or dad might work more than one job. Other times both parents might work and while they want to be more involved, they have multiple children in school and their time is stretched thin.
Whether it’s building relationships with parents or students, the key circles back to hiring teachers, who value relationship-building.
Goodwin said that particular expectation starts by “making sure you have the right people in the building.”
Goostree added, “I think it’s the most important thing I do, putting a teacher in the classroom.”
Goostree said statistics show that it takes two or three years for a student to overcome having a bad experience with an elementary school teacher. Conversely, she said, “If you have a great one and they put your feet on the path you can see the effects of that for years.”
Her view on the subject is based largely on the writings of John Hattie, the founder of Visible Learning, who stresses the importance of “know thy impact.”
“That really resonated with me,” Goostree said. “Good or bad, you have a tremendous impact on kids and I take that responsibility very seriously in hiring people.
“There’s no way around it,” Goostree continued. “In a school setting, you are a role model. (Students) are looking at you every day. They might forget what you taught them, but they won’t forget how you made them feel.”
Bolden agreed with Goostree.
“You can come in and have a bad teacher that first year of school and a kid’s outlook moving forward is going to be dreadful,” Bolden said.
Goodwin said “how you teach is (as) important” as the information being taught.
Goodwin, whose career began in the early-1970s, said in the past people were “passionate about teaching the academics,” but “failed to teach the students.”
This is precisely why, at Brown’s Chapel, Goostree starts every Monday together – students, teachers, staff and administrators – in the gymnasium.
Her goal is for each child to receive three affirmations, whether it’s welcoming them to school, telling them they were missed over the weekend, building them up or simply making eye contact.
It’s reminder for young students that school is a family.
“We’re all trying to be the best that we can be,” Goostree said. “You feel like you’re part of something.”
As Goodwin explained, it’s a student-centered environment.
By the time students enter middle school all three administrators said it’s as important for kids to have grown emotionally and culturally as it is to have developed academically.
They’ve learned to be comfortable in all situations.
They’ve learned how to make friends.
They’ve learned how to feel connected.
For Goostree, that means she wants her students to understand the importance of being kind and courteous to everyone in their path.
“I want that to resonate with them through life because that’s what is going to make them successful,” Goostree said. “When (they) leave us their attitude is set, their work ethic is set, the kind of friend (they’re) going to be and all these kinds of things.”
She concluded, “I don’t want anyone leaving this school without being successful, feeling good about themselves and having a positive outlook for their future.”
FEATURED PHOTO / KEITH RYAN CARTWRIGHT
Brown’s Chapel principal Kellye Goostree engages two you young students, while observing Julie Gray’s third grade class on Monday morning of this week. Goostree said teachers and administrators are role models for students and that bonds like the one she’s forming with these students are the cornerstone of elementary education.
SECOND PHOTO / LISA RHODES
Goostree engages students during an all-school assembly at Brown's Chapel. She said by starting every Monday morning together, everyone from kids and staff to teachers and administrators feel like a family.
THIRD PHOTO / LISA RHODES
Students begin assembling in the gymnasium for the weekly Monday morning all-school assembly at Brown's Chapel Elementary.