In Charity Moore’s classroom, everyone belongs
Taking a lesson from the Disney movie Lilo and Stitch, North Park Elementary School’s 2022-23 Teacher of the Year, Charity Moore, aims to turn her classroom into a family with high expectations and lots of fun. One student said, “This classroom feels like my family—it feels like my house!” That’s exactly what Moore is hoping for. “I have rules and expectations, but I want them to feel like it’s a safe spot,” she expressed. “We do all these different activities to get to know each other so that they’re not just classmates, but friends. It just makes it so nobody’s left behind or forgotten.”
Moore creates this environment by spending time at the beginning of the year getting to know students and setting high expectations. She teaches the students that while they don’t have to be best friends with everyone in the classroom, it’s essential that they are kind to everyone. “We can all find things about someone in the class that we like and appreciate. So setting up those types of expectations and feelings in the room at the beginning of the year is important,” Moore explained. “If we’re a team, when the kids see that someone needs help, they’ll just step in and help right away. And most times, I don’t even have to ask, because they just know that we’re here to help everybody.”
While teaching her students to be kind and compassionate humans, Moore also recognizes that there is a lot to learn in third grade. “Third grade is a big transition. We go from teaching the kids how to read to teaching them comprehension skills,” Moore said. “It’s a huge year for math. We teach them so much—like division, multiplication, fractions, elapsed time, and all types of things.”
Knowing that third grade can be challenging and overwhelming, Moore strives to bring moments of fun to her classroom. “It’s all about finding those little moments to let them be kids, and remembering that they’re third graders, not adults, and making sure they have those moments to enjoy being children,” Moore said. “Some math we teach is so hard. We expect a lot of kids, and I want to make sure they still have those moments.”
Moore uses positive rewards and fun activities to create an environment that lets students be kids and have fun while still being engaged in learning complex content. For example, this week, Moore’s class earned a ‘New Name Day,’ where they each got to pick a new name to go by for the whole day. “The new name day is simple. And rewards don’t have to be a big party that takes a lot of time away from teaching. But just something interesting that makes them laugh,” Moore explained.
A fun, family-like environment helps to create a classroom where everyone feels like they belong. Returning to her favorite Disney movie, Moore expounded, “Stitch is kind of an interesting-looking character; he’s a hard character. People don’t know how to treat him or accept him. But they take the time to get to know him and realize he’s family.” She continued, “That’s how I approach it with kids. I take the time to get to know them. And with most kids, if they can tell you really care, they’ll want to listen and help. I think people just need that. People need to know that, no matter what, they are welcome.”