Parkers Chapel kindergarten teacher Yolanda Gafford was recently honored with the J.H. Pestalozzi Early Career Award at Southern Arkansas University’s College of Education 2015 honors society ceremony.
Gafford, of El Dorado, did her student teaching at Parkers Chapel Elementary School before completing her Bachelor of Science in Education at SAU in 2011. She immediately started her career at Parkers Chapel because “wisely, they invited her to stay,” said Gafford’s former teacher Dr. Karen Ferneding during the award presentation at the Kappa Delta Pi Spring 2015 Initiation Ceremony on April 22, 2015.
Yolanda Gafford shares a few words after accepting the J.H. Pestalozzi Early Career Award at Southern Arkansas University’s College of Education 2015 honors society ceremony. Also pictured is Dr. Karen Ferneding, who presented the award.
Gafford has been a kindergarten teacher for four years and has been the lead teacher within her grade level for the past few years.
“To enter [Gafford’s] classroom is to be in the center of enchantment. You are swept into a creative world for children – playful, spirited and loving,” said Ferneding.
Ferneding shared some key points from a conversation the professor shared with her former student, in which Gafford shared her thoughts, motivations and experiences as a novice teacher. Gafford relishes in her opportunity to excite students about learning, and it’s clear that she acts on her belief that teachers need “genuine love and caring for their students.”
“Teachers have transcended the role of simply teaching content to students,” said Gafford. “Teachers play a multi-faceted role in children’s lives daily. Caring for a child means that you will be their protector when needed, their comforter when there are problems inside or outside of the school environment, their cheerleader to keep them motivated to doing their very best, and their supporter to help build them up academically, socially, and emotionally.”
She explained that dedicated teaching goes well beyond the normal school-hour day. Providing the best education requires a willingness to arrive early, stay late, and work on weekends and even during the summer months, she explained.
Gafford was chosen for the J.S. Pestalozzi Early Career Award because she exemplifies the spirit of the Kappa Delta Pi ideals, in particular the dedication toward improvement of the human condition via education. Pestalozzi, 1747-1827, rejected the belief at the time that children, especially poor children, are born naturally depraved. He became a teacher of poor orphan children and a best-selling author of “Leonard and Gertrude,” and stressed sincerity and teaching from the heart.
In reflecting on the idea of teaching from the heart, Gafford recalled a well-known bible verse – Colossians 3:23.
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. Whatever you do in life, whether it is being a nurse, a doctor, lawyer, police officer, or a teacher, work at it wholeheartedly as though you were doing it for the Lord and not merely for people,” she said. “The privilege of teaching and shaping young minds has no greater reward.”
At the Kappa Delta Pi ceremony, future passionate teachers from the SAU College of Education’s graduate and undergraduate degree program were recognized and initiated. To find out more about pursuing a fulfilling degree in education at SAU, visit www.SAUmag.edu/Education.
