Story Time in Mrs. Duncan’s Class
Author: Rich Atkinson
Interview with Dr. Brenda Richards Brown
Brenda sat with her head on her desk in Mrs. Duncan’s class.
It was story time.
The third-graders in Mrs. Duncan’s class at Travelers Rest Elementary anticipated story time. Every school day, Brenda and her classmates listened to Mrs. Duncan read to them.
Listening to a story helped calm them down after recess.
Brenda and her classmates became lost in the story. About fifteen minutes after she started, Mrs. Duncan reached an exciting part at the end of a chapter.
Then, she stopped reading.
“Don’t stop,” they pleaded.
“We will have to wait until tomorrow,” she told them.
“I can remember she’s the one who helped me fall in love with reading,” Brenda says.
Thus, Mrs. Duncan became a catalyst for Brenda’s career path!
“I told my parents I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up because I wanted to help students fall in love with reading like she did for me,” Brenda says.
On her first day on campus at what is now Charleston Southern in Charleston, South Carolina, she headed to the Education Department to start making her dream a reality.
Brenda’s career in education included 27 years of teaching elementary students from K-3, three years in administration, and one year of teaching as an adjunct professor in college. Brenda has volunteered with ISP for more than nine years, facilitating small groups, giving talks, and directing the Elementary Track training. She was also the primary writer for the International School Project’s (ISP) Elementary Curriculum.
For more information about how you can make a positive impact as a teacher, read the blog post How to Help Dyslexic Students Thrive.
[Read – The Rest of the Story, from Dr. Brenda Richards Brown]
About the Author
Rich Atkinson began his writing career with a community paper in Ohio.
He has worked for a magazine. Travel assignments have taken him outside the country to Haiti and Guatemala. In the U.S., he has journeyed to Atlanta, Boston, Milwaukee, and many other places for feature stories.
When not writing, Rich finds time to read and enjoys listening to authors discuss writing on podcasts and in YouTube videos.
