Mason enjoys excitement of third-graders
Like many in her field, Hickory Creek Elementary teacher Teela Mason says she can’t remember a time in her life when she didn’t want to teach.
“As a girl I played school with my sister, but I always told her I wouldn’t play unless I got to be the teacher and she always gave in eventually,” Mason said. “Even then I liked to talk and to be in charge, so I knew teaching would be a good job for me.”
A Lincoln County native, Mason earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education at MTSU, where she also earned a master’s degree in special education and her M.A. plus 45.
She began her education career teaching a second and third grade split level class at Viola Elementary in the fall of 1977. After three years, she was transferred to Northside Elementary, where she taught fifth grade until the school closed in 1994. She moved to newly opened Hickory Creek Elementary the next year and continued to teach fifth grade for three years before being moved to third grade.
While she enjoyed teaching fifth grade, Mason said she loves third-graders and cannot imagine going back. These feelings, she said, have a lot to do with the natural excitement of third-graders.
“They think everything is fun. I could give them pencils and they would think it’s exciting. I like that,” she said, adding she tries to incorporate some form of fun into her classroom everyday, whether it be games with prizes or a weekly popcorn day.
“If they’re not happy, they’re not going to learn, so we have some fun. At the same time, they know learning is important, especially in the third grade, which is such an important grade. It introduces some really hard skills like multiplication and cursive writing,” she said.
Last school year, Mason reached a milestone in her teaching career, one most longtime teachers eventually reach if they teach in the same area for any amount of time – she taught a child of one of her former students.
“It made me feel old,” she said. “It was kind of weird.”
When not at school, Mason enjoys going to flea markets and searching for antiques, which she said are her passion. One day she hopes to open an antiques store next to her house with the help of her husband Kenneth.
She said she also enjoys spending her free time shopping for and being with her three grandchildren, Meaghan, Hannah and Trey.