4910 59 Street
Red Deer, AB T4N 2N1
403 347 0022
First Steps & Beyond
Daycare
First Steps Elementary Academy
firststepselementaryacademy.ca
Lynne Harris
Owner/Teacher
Over the past six years, a frequent question asked of me is why did you start your own school? The answer comes easily. I BELIEVE in children. They are “little people” who want to be respected. They want to be loved. They want to be treated with consideration, tolerance, and understanding. They long for guidance and support. They have emotions and ideas. They want to be heard. They need to be taught values and be aware of our expectations. l believe in their capabilities. They may not have the wisdom, experience, and foresight that adults have, but, they do have wonderful minds full of curiosity, questions, creativity, adoration, and ideas that they are so excited to express. It is my role as an educator to give them an avenue to voice what’s inside. To not listen is a shame. We are missing out on some of the most innocent, untainted, fresh perspectives of the world.
The role of an educator is one of tremendous responsibility. We are literally shaping, influencing, and developing our children and young people who someday in the future will be responsible for our society. We have a direct impact on these children’s self-esteem, attitudes, perspectives, goals, outlook on life, and future plans.
Teaching is more than learning the strategies, methodologies, theories, and curriculum. Teaching comes from the heart. A true teacher’s heart needs to hold and accept every child regardless of circumstance. Teaching takes an abundance of patience, understanding, love, sensitivity, and perseverance. I believe that “teachers” are born to be “teachers”. It is almost a calling. I have never considered any other profession. The decision to be a teacher was made at a very young age. My family background includes many teachers; from grandparents, parents, and cousins. I guess it is in “my blood” so to speak. I consider it an honour and privilege to teach. It is a responsibility that I take very seriously for I am, in part, shaping and moulding the children that sit before me. I need to have a positive impact and be a positive influence on each of the children. There is a verse that I absolutely love – it goes like this. “100 years from now, it will not matter what kind of car I drove, what kind of house I lived in, how much money I had, nor what kind of clothes I wore. But the world may be a better place because I was important in the life of a child.”
My teaching career expands across two provinces and over 30 years. I absolutely love what I do. I would be nowhere else.