Teaching and coaching is all in a day’s work
By Alyssa Schafer
She’s the the first to admit teaching is tough, but Underwood’s new second grade teacher enjoys rising to the occasion. Dusty Vaagene is used to teaching third and fourth graders, so her class of 16 second graders presents her with a bit of a challenge. "They’re a good bunch of kids, but they’re active," she said. "They’re second graders. That’s just the way they are." At her previous teaching position in McClusky she taught both third and fourth grade. From a lesson planning standpoint, teaching at Underwood is much more simple, she said. While Vaagene is glad she is able to concentrate on just one grade-level of students, her Underwood classroom does present certain challenges. "In a way, this is a lot easier as far as lesson planning goes, but the kids are younger than I’m used to, so that’s taking a little bit of adjustment," she said. Vaagene’s students really enjoy visiting with each other, which can sometimes interfere with their lessons, but they are working to improve focus, she said.
