TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHER LEADS STUDENTS THROUGH SPACE

JACKSON -- Kathy Hotop-Raines and her students at Immaculate Conception Catholic School often take a trip through outer space to learn something new.

Raines becomes the "Teacher from Outer Space," so that the students, or "earthlings," can teach her something new, like vocabulary words for a reading story.

"As a teacher, you sometimes have to remember the kid inside of the adult," she said. "You have to let go just a little and read stories using different voices and using `magic' spray paint to practice handwriting letters."

Although learning should be fun, it's not all fun and games. "I try also to work with my young learners to become organized in their study skills. We have special work folders to organize our daily class work We also learn to keep assignment notebooks. Hopefully, by starting early with age appropriate activities, these young learners will naturally become organized in their study skills as lifelong learners."

Raines teaches second grade at Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Jackson. Teaching at the school holds many memories for Raines, an alumna.

"The fifth-grade teacher was one of my classmates through grade school. There are even two teachers on the current staff that were our teachers. Of course, we know that for them to have been our teachers, they must have started teaching in their very early teen-age years."

Raines never really decided to become a teacher, she said. "I just always wanted to be a teacher." She first started with certification in home economics but decided that teaching opportunities were limited.

"I tried working in retail using that particular part of my education, but I always felt like something was missing. It was very scary going back to college to pursue another teaching certification."

"Maybe God always intended for me to be an elementary teacher, maybe I wasn't listening to His wish when I first tried secondary education. Whatever the case may be, I truly enjoy the students I have the privilege of working with every day."

Raines earned her master's degree from Southeast Missouri State University.

She and her husband, Scott, have one son. Raines is a member of the Immaculate Conception parish and serves on the board at Cross Trails Medical Center.