Quick named elementary Teacher of the Year

Empathy is the driving force that propels St. Mary Parish Elementary Teacher of the Year Brooke Quick to succeed.

Quick spent her childhood years in the Gibson area but attended schools in Berwick. Her family later decided to move to Berwick when she was 12 to shorten the commute. She is a graduate of Berwick High.

“My sister is deaf,” Quick said. “That’s why we always attended Berwick schools, because they had the hearing impaired program.”

Quick received a bachelor’s degree in elementary (1-5) and special education (K-12) with certification in both areas at Nicholls State.

Her pursuit of a special education degree was influenced greatly by her older sister, Jasmine Quick.

“I wanted to get a degree in special education just in case there was ever an opportunity I could get into the hearing impaired side of it,” Quick said. “I’ve been around it. My mom was an interpreter for 14 years.

“And then, of course, growing up with my sister, we were always around that program.”

She always thought that with the certification, her chances for getting a position in a hearing impaired program would be better. So, she spent an extra semester to get dual certification.

“It kind of helps me,” Quick said. “I feel in my job now, growing up with her and seeing it took her a little longer to get ideas, I have a little more empathy for children who are dealing with disabilities.

“And it’s kind of special because I get to teach them sign language. We do sign language in class. And they just think it’s the most amazing thing in the world.”

Quick shares experiences about her sister with students.

“It kind of relays to other children you need to be accepting of disabilities,” Quick said. “It’s a unique experience to have in your background because you really have empathy for other children.”

Quick will reach her fifth year as a classroom teacher in December. Her career began two weeks after graduating college. She taught fifth- and seventh-graders at Patterson Junior High for 1½ years.

Then she moved on to Bayou Vista Elementary, where she currently teaches math and reading to third-graders.

When asked what is the hardest thing about being a teacher , she stated every student is on a different level and learns in a different way. Addressing individual needs of students can be a challenging feat.

But at Bayou Vista Elementary, the faculty talks a lot about differentiation in the classroom.

“How do I take one lesson and do it in three different ways?” Quick said. “That way I reach every student’s needs. But still sometimes, it doesn’t happen the way you want and you have to go and fix it. “And try to improve it in the future.”

She acknowledges the support of Principal Carol St. Germain and assistant principal Charles Foulcard as essential.

“They come in our rooms every week,” Quick said. “And they say ‘I love how you’re doing that’ and ‘I love how you’re doing that.’ And they offer suggestions, ‘maybe you can try this.’

“That kind of takes away from the stress. I’m doing something right and I get help when I’m doing something wrong.”

Classroom management and giving positive reinforcement are areas that come easiest to this teacher.

“I really think that we tend to sometimes focus all on the negative …,” Quick said. “Last year, I said, ‘OK, that’s it. We’ve just got to focus on positive things happening in the classroom.’

“I have a lot of different things in my classroom. They can win prizes if they do something good.

“If you speak to them in a positive way, your class management is a breeze because they want to do for you and they know that you care about them. Kids will perform better if they truly know you care.”

Her greatest stressor is finding a balance between pushing students but not to the point where they become frustrated. Teachers have a lot of responsibility, especially in third grade. It’s the first year students take a major standardized test.

“So you have to push them,” Quick said. “And I do my very best to push them and set high expectations. But I don’t want that to consume my class.

“I want them to learn first over focusing on a test score because I don’t ever want children to become frustrated. When they don’t like to learn anymore, that creates another domino effect.”

Regardless of the stress and challenges, watching students gain academic victories is most rewarding about her job and it makes it all worthwhile.

“It’s to see those kids that struggle all year long, especially in reading, finally make a B or even a C,” Quick said. “Their faces light up. It’s seeing other kids proud of themselves and that’s extremely rewarding.”

As third-graders, “they’re very sweet,” Quick said. “You know they’re still at the age where they love their teacher. And I’m someone that they see more than some people. I think that what I say has a direct impact on them.”

But it’s a relationship Quick does not take for granted.

“When I have a kid hug me or draw me a picture, you know I feel ‘OK, they know I really care,’” Quick said. “There’s a good relationship. And that’s what I really want with every child.”

As for relationships, she attributes receiving the elementary Teacher of the Year award to the collaborative efforts of her Bayou Vista Elementary family. And she was shocked to receive the honor.

“I guess you’re always shocked when you win something that’s a big deal,” Quick said. “I guess because you look and you see what everyone else is doing and then you compare yourself.

“And you’re like ‘I don’t know if I’m that good.’ But it kind of helps validate. … I think it speaks to the rapport that we have here among us, you know, we’re very intertwined with each other.

“We teach each other stuff all the time. I think it kind of says we’re doing something right and we’re all working together and we’re all doing it. And it makes you feel good about yourself.”

Winning teacher of the year was “amazing” for Quick.

“I was really excited,” Quick said. “That was good enough for me. That’s enough kudos for me. I had no expectation that I would have been chosen for that, because you have so many teachers in the parish.”

And she also cried after receiving the news from her principal.

“It was unexpected,” Quick said. “And it just makes you feel good about yourself, your community and the people that you work with because they’re the reason.

“Coming here and learning so much from these people, I feel, is what even got me to this step, so it makes me love my school even more, my parish even more.”

Quick is engaged to Thomas Duplantis with the wedding date set for Nov. 18.

“Of course, I do want to have children,” Quick said. “That is a goal of mine as well. And I want to take time to raise my children. This is a profession that lends itself easily to family life.

“Many people have children, and they come back and pick up where they started. I think this is a profession that would be a lifelong thing.”

Quick is the daughter of Tammy and Greg Quick. Along with her sister, she also has a younger brother, Devon Quick.

Quick won the Louisiana Association of Computer Using Educators award in December 2015.