By Donna Aunchman

I began my teaching internship in 1976 at R. B. Hunt Elementary School. The very

school I had attended when I was a child and where I am presently teaching. My
directing teachers, Gwen Reichert and Linda Young, poured their hearts into my life,
demonstrating their expertise in the curriculum and their love and concern for every
child. They gave me an incredible foundation for teaching and a love for my
profession that has inspired me for the past 35 years.

Each time I’ve changed grade levels or schools, another teacher or teachers have
inspired me to rethink or stretch my teaching abilities to a new level. In all my
years, I’ve found the support and love for children to be at the base of why teachers
do what they do. I often find myself thinking how fortunate the children are to have
such qualified and loving teachers, who daily see teaching, not as a job but a gift.

There is not enough room to name all the teachers who have inspired me. As
teachers, it has never been about how much they take home in our paycheck, or
how they’re going to make the children pass a test; it’s about how they’re going to
make a difference in the lives of the children they teach. There is much discussion
about merit pay and how administration is to identify excellent teachers, but the
truth cannot always be quantified by test scores. Lowering the title of an excellent
teacher to test scores, is asking the teachers who inspire us, to lower their
expectations.

Donna Aunchman teaches at R. B. Hunt Elementary in St. Augustine.