Last Day Q&A: Michelle Terry

As a former preschool teacher and current aunt to school-agers, program engagement specialist Michelle Terry has a lot of stories up her sleeve. Read more to get to know her a bit better.

What was your favorite activity to do with your kids when you were in the classroom?

During circle time, I enjoyed teaching my preschoolers the alphabet through Zoophonics. Beanie Babies were popular at the time, so my coworkers and I enjoyed collecting them for the students in our class. It was so fun watching their excitement as they matched the Beanie Babies with the Zoophonics animals!

If you could go back in time, what is one thing you would tell yourself the night before your first day as an early childhood educator?

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!!

Talk about a fellow educator you admired and what you learned most from them.

In grad school, I worked in the child care program on my college campus. I admired my co-worker Sharalle for her professionalism and how she exemplified early childhood advocacy to the fullest degree. I appreciate the time and energy she took to teach me the many facets of early childhood education. What I learned most from Sharalle was to treat each day like a new day. Children possess the gift of leaving the past in the past. They don’t get hung up on the full blown tantrum from yesterday’s circle time! Let it go!!!

What has been your favorite age of your niece/nephew to be an auntie?

This is HARD because I have so many favorite memories at EVERY age! However, I must admit I miss when they were babies because those cuddles were EVERYTHING.

What is your favorite thing about your niece/nephew at their age now?

I enjoy listening to their conversations and learning of things they believe are important, cool, crazy, scary – you name it!

What is/were your favorite activities to do with your niece/nephew?

I enjoy playing all types of games with my niece and nephew. Our parents played many games with us as children and this is my way of keeping the party going!