For Becky Williams, teaching always the goal

Becky Williams is one of those unique people.

Some people walk across the high school graduation stage to be handed their diploma and have no idea what the next phase of life has in store for them.

Williams, 49, of Bradley, had that question answered at the ripe old age of 7.

As a second grader, she knew being a teacher was her future profession.

Her brother and sister could certainly attest to that fact.

Now in her 27th year of teaching primary grades, Williams got an early start by playing the role of teacher during childhood “classes” with her younger siblings.

“I was the teacher. My brother and sister were my students,” she recalled. “I just knew. I don’t know why or how, but I just knew.”

The daughter of William and the late Kathie Poole, following her 1993 graduation from Bishop McNamara Catholic High School, she walked across the graduation platform in 1997 at Olivet Nazarene University.

She clutched her teaching degree tightly.

Her career began in eastern Kankakee County at Pembroke Elementary School. In 2001, she began teaching first grade at the former St. Martin of Tours Catholic School in Kankakee.

As the Kankakee-based Catholic grade schools merged into one unit, then known as Aquinas Academy, she switched to teaching preschool there.

When the next merger took place, this one combining the Catholic grade schools of the Kankakee-Bradley-Bourbonnais area into one under the Bishop McNamara umbrella, she transitioned to second grade.

She is now a preschool teacher at the former St. Joseph Grade School site in Bradley, a position she has held for the past two years.

The Bradley location is for 3-year-old preschoolers through fifth grade, just as is the former Maternity BVM site. Students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade attend classes at the Bishop Mac campus adjacent to the high school.

Williams has transitioned from being the pretend teacher of her brother and sister to the real thing. She couldn’t be more pleased.

“When the light clicks on with a student, you know you have helped a student,” she said.

She paused for several moments, seeking a word or two to describe that feeling of accomplishment.

“I don’t even know how to describe it. ... One day they just begin to understand,” Williams said. “It’s hard to think of the right word. It just clicks, but we are all doing it together.”

Some classes are more challenging than others. Some days are more challenging than others.

But as the bell rings and book bags are packed with the day’s accomplishments for parents to review, Williams said she has never once regretted choosing a career in teaching.

Or perhaps teaching chose her.

She never tires of watching the children grow socially and academically each year.

“You see the maturity they have gained, the independence they have learned. That’s all very fulfilling,” she said.

Even though she is now teaching 25 preschoolers, the class is not simply fun and games, although that is part of the learning and maturation process.

“They are being exposed to other kids,” she said. “There are academics, but there is socialization, learning life skills.”

She enjoys watching them figure out the simplest tasks, such as zipping their coat or tying a shoe.

“It’s little accomplishments to us, but to them it’s huge,” she said. “We are teaching the things that we all take for granted.”

Williams is asked the $64,000 question: What is her philosophy of teaching?

She pauses. She then says she hates this question.

“I don’t know if it’s a philosophy, but we are very structured in this class,” she said, noting that organization, structure, and discipline are needed for growth. “A lot of children crave structure. I’m old school. School is about learning.”

She comes back to her choice of pursuing a career in education. It has without question been the right choice.

“I couldn’t see myself doing anything else,” Williams said. “I don’t know what else I would have done.”

She said that when the calendar hits Aug. 1, she instinctively finds herself gearing up, anticipating the new school year. It’s not a feeling of dread, but rather comfort.

“I’m ready to come back and prepare for the next year,” Williams said. “If I were to stop teaching, what would I do? I don’t know. Teaching is like my second nature. The classroom is my second home.

“This profession consumes me – in a good way."