May 20—For forty years, Coleene Torgerson, a kindergarten teacher at Lakeside Elementary, has been “at the beginning” of student education, sending hundreds of children on a path of learning and discovery.
This year she has reached the destination of her teaching journey as she begins a new one in retirement.
During a May 13 interview at the school, Torgerson shared the joys and challenges of teaching Lakeside, the Somers School District’s youngest students.
“They’re curious, they’re eager to learn, they love everything and especially their teacher. You get, ‘You’re the best teacher I ever had,’ even though you’re the only one they’ve ever had,” said Torgerson with a smile and a laugh.
“They are true to themselves,” she added.
With a mother who taught kindergarten and first grade and a father who taught high school math and coached basketball, it wasn’t a difficult choice when deciding her career path. Growing up in Bridger, Montana, Torgerson loved spending time in her mother’s classroom, helping her organize, set up materials or decorate the bulletin board.
When she went to college, she knew she wanted a career that involved working with people. After graduating, Torgerson got her first teaching job at the Somers-Lakeside School District in 1984, where she remained throughout her career.
“My husband is from Bigfork, so we wanted to come to this area,” she said.
“I started at this school. I love this school,” she said (which included teaching at Somers until 1997-98 when Lakeside Elementary was built at its current location, 255 Adams St. in Lakeside).
During her tenure, she also taught first grade, second grade, and some fourth grade students, students who were struggling academically along with gifted students, and coached girls and boys basketball. For a year, she and another elementary school teacher served as interim principals when a former administrator moved into another position just before the start of the school year. The two teachers divided their time between main duties and classroom teaching.
“It was a good experience, but it let me know that the classroom was my place,” Torgerson said.
She has been teaching preschoolers for twenty years.
“It’s just really fun to see them learning letters and sounds and how to put them together – that beginning process of reading and being interested in books,” she said.
Being a kindergarten teacher requires a lot of energy, patience, and a flexible attitude to keep up with 6-year-olds.
“You have to love hugs,” she said, and be willing to deal with the messier aspects of growing up, like bathroom accidents or nose picking. “A lot of things happen in kindergarten that don’t happen in other grades. You just have to be very flexible and be able to deal with them.”
After the experience of teaching two half-day classes with 30 kindergartners each before Lakeside Elementary opened, Torgerson knows why smaller class sizes are crucial.
‘Because we say so [it’s] like herding butterflies. They are here and there and everywhere and we are trying to keep them all focused and quiet at the same time,” she said, waving her hands in the air.
At this age, students are bursting with curiosity, wonder and imagination.
“You can get them excited about anything. It’s just how you present it,” Torgerson said.
Torgerson described how she incorporates songs and movement into learning letters, sounds, numbers and colors, for example. She also likes to use the hand puppets of beloved characters from children’s books, such as Clifford the Big Red Dog and Pete the Cat, when reading aloud.
“It has to be engaging,” she said of the curriculum presentation. “In preschool it’s short, little bites because they don’t have long attention spans, so you’re going from activity to activity very quickly, every, you know, 15 to 20 minutes.”
If a song isn’t available, which the Internet has made easier, she makes one up.
“Forty years ago, when I started, you didn’t have that, so you took well-known tunes and just made your own words,” she said, singing, “RED, RED, apples are red, apples are red.” the melody of the children’s song “Frère Jacques” as an improvised example.
Hands-on manipulatives such as dice and blocks are also important when learning at this level. Play stations where students can play pretend are also an important part. Integrating play and imagination into learning is a touchstone in children’s development. However, over the years, Torgerson said there has been a shift from game-based education to academically focused education as standards and accountability requirements change. She also noticed this change when kindergarten went from half days to full days for all Lakeside students.
“A lot more is expected of children than before. They moved the first grade to kindergarten. They downgraded it and that’s a shame because they don’t have as much of a chance to just be kids; to love school and to learn because they have to learn words and numbers – in addition to all those things we discussed in kindergarten – but we didn’t have to master it all. In the past it was mainly about playing, singing, painting, playing games taking turns and sharing, all that stuff. And now kindergarten is really academic,” she said.
But she agreed that educational philosophies and trends appear to be cyclical with a movement to bring those play-based elements back to the forefront.
“I really hope that’s the case,” she said. “Because she [students] I don’t realize that they are learning and that they are just having fun with their learning process without even realizing it.”
THE TIMING was right to retire this year, Torgerson said, noting the recent birth of her third grandchild, whom she is eager to see. Her breast cancer diagnosis last year and subsequent treatment – surgery, chemotherapy and radiation – all went well, but it took a heavy toll on her energy levels. Torgerson recalled how much she was looking forward to returning to the classroom that year.
“Having the child and teaching that I was looking forward to got me out of bed every day and it was such a blessing,” Torgerson said.
Now retired, she looks forward to traveling to visit her children and grandchildren who live and play out of state.
Her parting advice to new teachers is to give themselves grace.
“Especially when you’re starting out, you’re not going to be an expert at everything. In fact, virtually nothing you do in college will prepare you for that first day. So realize that you won’t know everything and that it will take a while is necessary while.”
“Be willing to reach out to others,” she adds. “You don’t have to be an island. There are other teachers, administrators, parents – people who can help and support you.”
She recommended getting involved in school and community activities or groups to build connections.
“Those are the things that make you want to stay when you really feel connected to the community. That’s why I wanted to stay.”
The public is invited to attend an ice cream social in celebration of Torgerson’s retirement at Lakeside Elementary on June 5 in the gym. The time is to be determined.
Reporter Hilary Matheson can be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.
