Paula Weydert always knew she wanted to be a teacher and she has been living her dream for the past 34 years.
Her hard work and dedication were recently recognized when she was named the Yankton Education Association’s 2011-12 Teacher of the Year.
Weydert is currently the fourth grade teacher at Yankton’s Beadle Elementary School.
“Before that I taught in Lennox and I spent two years in Bassett, Neb., as a Title I teacher,” she said. “I have taught in Yankton for 15 years at Webster (Elementary) and Beadle mainly third or fourth grades, but I have taught anything from first to eighth grade.”
Weydert says she loves teaching at any level.
“Every grade level truly has it’s quirks and it’s own excitement,” she said. “In third grade the students are learning their basic math facts and how to pronounce words. In fourth grade, we expand more on what they know and they start algebra and long division and we really focus on learning how to interpret what they’re reading instead of just reading the words. First grade is great because you get a lot of hugs. The older classes are different because you get a lot of complaining about spelling tests and things.
“I really find that I love whatever grade I’m teaching at the time though. When colleagues are moved to a different grade, I always say, ‘Oh, you’ll love that grade,’ and I really mean it because they all have something to offer,” she said.
Weydert said the main areas she stresses to her fourth graders is study habits.
“It’s important for them to learn how to study for tests,” she said. “That’s really the biggest thing in fourth grade.”
She also enjoys teaching a unit on South Dakota history in social studies.
“Our community is so rich with history it’s very easy to get the kids excited to learn about the place they live,” she said. “When they make the connection that some of the towns around here are named after people we are studying they are always interested.
We also learn about the Sioux tribes and the fact that Yankton has such a great historical significance (as the Dakota Territorial Capital).”
Weydert and her husband, Nick, have a blended family of five daughters: Danielle, Kacey, Brittany, McKinsey and Jill. Weydert, who grew up in the Fort Dodge, Iowa, area has two sisters, who are also teachers and two brothers.
Weydert’s grandmother was a one-room schoolhouse teacher and an inspiration to her granddaughters.
“She had all kinds of fun things at her house like construction paper and reader books and fancy writing pens,” she said. “We used to have so much fun writing with those pens and playing school.”
Weydert also babysat, was a 4-H camp counselor and a religious education teacher when she was younger and she enjoyed being around children.
“Teaching is such a great vocation,” she said. “There’s never a dull moment, for me at least, some of my students might disagree, but every day there is something new to learn.”
Over the years technology has enriched the teaching field with so many tools to make the classroom interactive, Weydert said.
“Who would have imagined SMART boards 30 years ago,” she said. “Computers in the classroom have changed so much. We have Scholastic Weekly Readers and there are integrated links within the stories for the SMART Board so we can read about something and then watch a short clip about it or listen to what it sounds like.”
All that instant information can lead to some tough choices for teachers though, Weydert said.
“We spend so much time nowadays deciding what to use because there is so much you can do,” she said. “When I’m checking papers at home at night my husband asks why I didn’t do that at work. There’s no time to check papers at school because I’m busy during our free periods planning.”
Weydert said she couldn’t imagine doing anything else but teaching.
“Some people ask me if I think about retiring, but I don’t know what I would do,” she said.
She also wouldn’t want to be teaching anywhere else.
“The Yankton School District is a jewel,” she said. “Unless you’ve been other places you might not realize how great it is. I feel we all tend to take it for granted but I see it every day. I’m surrounded by such capable, dedicated and high functioning people every day, which makes it a great place to work.”
