Pierce Is County Teacher Of The Year
Sharon Pierce, the McDonald County Teacher of the Year, loves seeing students come closer to their full potential.
The fifth-grade teacher at Rocky Comfort Elementary School has been teaching a total of 28 years, 16 of which have been in McDonald County.
Asked why she became a teacher, she responded, “I was always a teacher. I taught my younger sisters. I taught my neighbors’ kids. I taught my neighbors’ dogs. I taught Sunday school. I just taught. Teaching is my thing.”
While she held a few other positions working in a public library, school library and an Army library while her husband was in the service, she said, “Teaching is close to my heart.”
She earned her degree from Missouri Southern University and her master’s from South Dakota State University “and lots of other hours all over.”
Her first job was on a Native American reservation in South Dakota teaching a combination of kindergarten and first grade.
“You sometimes had combination classrooms on the reservations,” she said. “You did everything — your own music, your own P.E., your own art. Kind of like the old-fashioned school houses.”
Pierce moved from South Dakota to McDonald County in 2001.
“I love it,” she said. “McDonald County Schools is a wonderful system to work in. They’re (administrators) very supportive. They take a great interest. They come to the classroom. Parents have been very supportive as well.”
She noted she had the opportunity to teach at the old Rocky Comfort building before the new one was built around 2003.
“I was very happy I got to be at the old Rocky. It has a lot of history with that old school,” she said.
Asked what she loves about teaching, Pierce said, “I like to see the light bulb come on. I like to see students come in thinking science is not fun and leave realizing they can do it. There’s nothing sweeter than having a kid come up and hug you and say, ‘I really get it Mrs. Pierce. This is fun.’ It’s not just the love of learning, it’s the love of students coming closer to full potential. The thing I love most is the difference you can make in a child’s life.”
Pierce said she sometimes learns about things she doesn’t really care much about in order to get students’ attention.
“I learned Minecraft. I have to learn about wrestling, hunting. I hook them in with books about things they’re interested in,” she said.
Every month her class does a new project, whether it’s writing a book together, creating math games for family night or presenting parts in a “living museum” where “statues” come alive and tell a story from history.
Pierce said that when she found out she was teacher of the year, she was surprised.
“I didn’t think it would be me, because I’m not the traditional teacher,” she said. “I’m a little nerd. I understand kids’ language real well, but I can come off a little odd. You should see some of the awesome teachers we have. I didn’t put myself in that category.”
In the past, Pierce has traveled to Korea and taught English in the summer. She hopes to travel abroad more in the future and do some teaching. She has a friend in India and hopes to teach there.