By April Clark Honaker
While studying pre-veterinary medicine at Louisiana Tech University, Elizabeth Speights opted to prioritize her childhood dream to become a teacher. Like many young adults, Speights was encouraged to be practical and choose a major that would allow her to make more money.
Speights said she followed that advice for a year but began to struggle more with her decision. At the time, Speights had started dating her husband Robby who encouraged her to follow her heart, which meant becoming a teacher. Speights had wanted to be a teacher since she was in kindergarten and attempted to cut her own hair to match that of Mrs. Jenkins.
With Robby’s encouragement, she pursued that dream of becoming a teacher and graduated in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in pre-K to 3 education.
After graduation, Speights did not get hired immediately. She attended a job fair for Lincoln Parish Schools where she said she found herself unexpectedly competing for jobs against teachers with 20 years of experience. When she wasn’t hired in the job fair, Speights didn’t give up, and Robby’s aunt encouraged her to apply for a short-term paraprofessional position for Grades 7-8 in Simsboro.
Although the job wasn’t what she had initially hoped for, Robby’s aunt reminded her how important it was to just get her foot in the door. She was right. That first job led to other opportunities within Lincoln Parish, including two additional short-term opportunities, one teaching fourth grade math at Hico Elementary and a second teaching first grade at Cypress Springs Elementary.
The following year Speights was offered a full-time position teaching kindergarten, and she’s been in the kindergarten classroom ever since. “Kindergarten is just my life now,” she said.
Speights loves this age and said, “Kindergarteners still look at you like everything you say is the truth, and they light up at the slightest compliment.”
Speights considers herself a big kid and likes to bring that spirit into the classroom, but at the same time, she also appreciates order. “I want kids to have fun, but I want them to have the foundation they need to be successful in school,” she said. “It’s a very fine balance.”
Finding that balance has taken some trial and error, but Speights said she feels she’s found it.
“I tell them this is their job,” she said, “but we need to be working together, so I can do my job, and they can do theirs.”
At the same time, it’s important for Speights to bring a little drama and silliness into the classroom.
“You can’t go in all deadpan and monotone,” she said.
They won’t absorb what you’re saying. Over time, Speights said she’s learned to come out of her shell more and really be herself in the classroom.
“I feel like I’ve started to find my joy,” she said. “I try to go into every day with a clean slate and not carry the day before with me. I’m here for the kids and not anyone else, and I’m making my own unique way.”
One of Speights’ favorite things about being a teacher is seeing her former students blossom into adults. Speights has begun carrying a binder with her class pictures from the last 14 years with her in her car. When she sees a student she recognizes, she approaches them to catch up and ask if they mind taking a new photo with the class picture.
“It’s exciting to see them as grown people out in the world doing things,” she said. “I just love watching kids learn and grow, and I want to be their biggest cheerleader, and I want them to remember and carry that with them.”
