TEACHER'S CORNER: MADALON SWITCHES CLASSROOMS, BEGINS YEAR WITH KINDERGARTNERS

SCOTT CITY -- St. Joseph School teacher Janice Madalon took on a new role this year when she left the third- and fourth-grade classes she'd been teaching for 13 years to teach a kindergarten class.

She said it's a very different experience getting students at virtually the beginning of their educational training, but it's been fun because the students love to laugh and make others laugh. Madalon said she tries to make the experience enjoyable by using fun experiences, like relating a list sound to a list of weekly sight words.

Sometimes this exercise can result in unexpected merriment, she said.

"One incident that comes to my mind dealt with the week I had a policeman come to speak to the students during "p" week," she said. ":The police officer did a terrific presentation; the only mistake he made was to ask if the students had any questions. One young man raised his hand and asked, "Why did the sheriff arrest the star? Because it was a shooting star." Needless to say, we all laughed before trying to get back on track."

Madalon said she loves teaching and thinks her career choice was a calling from God. As a teacher's helper in high school, it was a nice feeling to make a difference, she said. Now, when some of her former students return and give her hugs, she gets that same feeling.

A recent event reinforced those feelings for her in a heartfelt way. "My father-in-law became sick right after Christmas and eventually died in early January," she said. "I was out of school for three weeks and came back feeling sad and slightly depressed. When my first student walked in he saw me and ran to hug me.

"He said, 'Thank God you're back, Mrs. Madalon; I missed you. Don't ever leave me again. It was lonely without you,'" she said. "Other students ran up to me, giving me their homemade cards and gifts. I knew then I was making a difference."