Editor’s note: This is the fourth story in a series for Teacher Appreciation Week.

 

Straughn Elementary School Kindergarten teacher Julie Windham said that working with kids is an adventure.

“I absolutely love working with kids,” Windham said. “Not only do they learn from me, but I learn from them.”

Windham has been teaching for 33 years, most of those years at SES.

She said that the best part of her job is seeing the light come on when kids understand how to read.

“You can honestly see the light come on in their little heads when they start reading,” Windham said. “It is such an important skill, so when they understand how to do it, it makes me feel like I have done my job.”

One thing that makes teaching challenging is how the family structure has changed over the years, Windham said.

“Families are so stretched out now,” Windham said. “You never know what a kid is going through. Some kids are staying the night at two homes every other day and it is hard to deal with that.”

Windham said that working with the youth of America is the most exciting thing that a person could ever do.

“It is just a great job,” Windham said. “You get insight into every child’s life, where they came from and where they will be going.”

SES Assistant Principal Barry Wood has been working with Windham for 14 years.

“She is incredibly caring, hardworking and kind,” Wood said. “She is the cornerstone of great faculty.”

Wood said that Windham has a wealth of experience.

“She has even been mentor to several of the teachers that have passed through these halls,” Wood said. “She passes on her knowledge to all of her coworkers, and that’s a good thing.”

Wood said that every child that goes through her class is very fortunate.

Away from school, Windham loves to watch high school football, due to the fact that her sons coach at Andalusia High School and Straughn High School, respectively.

She has been married 33 years to Greg Windham, the special education teacher at SHS, and she has two sons, one grandson and another grandbaby on the way in December.