Kaisha Pigg teaches the third grade at Oak Grove Elementary in Poplar Bluff; and while she may excel in numerous areas, her students believe she excels in making them smile.
“She wants us to enjoy coming to school and she always has a smile on her face,” exclaimed one of her students, Lane Wrinkle. “You see, Mrs. Pigg always puts a smile on our faces.”
Pigg was named Teacher of the Year for Oak Grove Elementary.
That sentiment seems to be echoed by some parents, as well. One parent, Ashley Proctor, explained that during the first few months of third grade her son Mason had little confidence about his intelligence and academic performance.
“Mrs. Pigg had a way of demanding more out of him, while building his confidence at the same time,” Proctor stated. “He no longer put up a fight about going to school and would often talk about how much fun he had at school.”
Pigg’s philosophy regarding education seems simple as she describes it.
“My first priority is to establish a relationship,” Pigg said. “I establish relationships with my peers and my students. And I tell my students at the beginning of each year that we’re going to build a sense of family. Because when they feel comfortable approaching me with any problem, then I can help find a solution; and everything just seems to fall into place after the connection is made.”
Pigg explained that she didn’t follow a traditional route into teaching; but she believes that being a non-traditional student helped her.
“I enrolled in college after high school, but then I stopped. Then I enrolled again, and stopped,” Pigg explained. “You know, life gets in the way. But I finally took stock of my life and had to answer whether or not I was going to actually do this.”
And she did do it. By 2018, she had earned her associate degree in elementary education and by 2020, she had obtained her bachelor degree in elementary education. And, though she has been teaching for only a few years, the impact she has already made has become evident.
“I started off teaching sixth grade, and those students are now in high school. And I get to hear from some of them about how they’re doing and how much they enjoyed being my student,” Pigg exclaimed. “It’s so exciting to know that, for years to come, they will remember and think fondly about their time in my classroom.”
“Her classroom radiates positivity, and she instills a love for learning in her students that goes beyond the curriculum,” Oak Grove Elementary Principal Kristie Robinson explained. “Her ability to create an inclusive and engaging learning environment fosters a sense of curiosity and excitement among her students, making them active participants in their education.”
Pigg said that some of her earliest memories in life were of playing “school” in her yard and pretending to teach.
“All the way back in my childhood, I wanted to be a teacher and I imagined it every day,” Pigg remarked. “The idea and the thought was always there.”
She said she didn’t entirely enjoy school as a student, though. She draws from that experience to implement better practices in her teaching.
“I look at the kids in my class and I remember what it was like when I was their age. I think about what was effective for me and what wasn’t effective,” she explained. “So I use that to establish a method that works with every student. I try to tailor my approach to all of them.”
Pigg said she loves teaching third grade because it is such a formative time for the students.
“There are lots of firsts in third grade,” Pigg noted. “That is the year that we start standardized testing, and we prepare for that throughout the year. We celebrate the successes when we finish. But it’s also the beginning of when the students will start to form problem-solving abilities that will serve them later in live.
“I love to be able to watch as they learn and make certain connections. It’s exciting for me. And I love building that sense of family so they know they can rely on each other; and when they leave my class they can work with anyone. When they leave my classroom each day, they say: ‘I was excellent today, and I will be excellent tomorrow.’”