NEWBERRY, S.C. — It's time to sing and dance with our next News19 Teacher of the Week, Ms. Brooke Tolbert.
For the past seven years, Ms. Tolbert has been teaching music at Newberry Elementary School.
"The beauty of being the music teacher is that you see these students every year, so I get to see them grow up from being three years old," says Ms. Tolbert.
Mackenzie is five-years-old and loves to sing songs in Ms. Tolbert's class.
"She was a good worker," says Mackenzie.
Born in Prosperity, South Carolina, Ms. Tolbert went to Newberry College and got her masters at USC. She is now working on her doctorate at Liberty University.
"I wanted to do high school band. And then I was actually placed here with the last music teacher. And I fell in love," says Ms. Tolbert. "I figured I would start here and see where life took me. But now, I know this is where I'm supposed to be in elementary school."
Ms. Tolbert credits her high school band director Mr. Jed Thomas on why she became a teacher.
"He was always there for me. He knew what to say. He was very involved and cared about us, almost like a parental figure," says Ms. Tolbert. "I told myself, if I could make the same difference in one person's life, my job was done."
"She's having a lot of fun. She knows what she's doing, and she can handle the children with the music. It just all comes together," says Laddie Osborne, an assistant teacher in Newberry Elementary School's Montessori class.
Osborne knows the importance of recognizing our educators.
"All those teachers, one way or another, need to be honored," says Osborne.
"I hope that they know that I love them. I care about them so much, but I hope that they develop confidence in themselves and develop skills to become creative and express themselves however they want. Whether that's with music or art or some other form," says Ms. Tolbert.
If you know a teacher like Ms. Tolbert who deserves to be recognized for their hard work in the classroom you can nominate them by emailing us at TOW@WLTX.COM. Tell us what that educator is doing every day to go above and beyond in the classroom.
