Hailey Pepper has been a music teacher at Shades Cahaba Elementary School for 17 years. In this interview, she shares what she loves about her job and memories of her favorite teacher.
Q: How long have you been a teacher and what subject do you teach?
A: I've been teaching for 21 years; 17 of those years have been here at Shades Cahaba. And, I am a music teacher to grades K through five.
Q: What inspired you to become an educator?
A: I grew up in a home full of teachers. My mom and dad are both teachers. My aunt is a teacher. My sister is a teacher and both of my cousins are teachers. It's just in our blood. I did always want to be a teacher, and, then, about high school, I realized I could major in music education and that was a game changer and I knew immediately that's what I wanted to do.
Q: Tell us about your favorite teacher from when you were in school.
A: My favorite teacher has to be Ms.Sullivan. She taught me 6th or 7th grade math, I can't remember. But, I was a very type-A student. I always needed to know the expectations and I never wanted to get in trouble. And, in her class, we walked in the door, I knew exactly what to expect every day. She made math fun and I could understand it. And, then, I could also feel challenged by her, and it was just a wonderful year with her for me.
Q: What is the most rewarding part of being a teacher?
A: The most rewarding part about being a music teacher is getting to have our students from kindergarten all the way to 5th grade. To see their growth throughout the years is amazing as they come in. In kindergarten, we're just working on the steady beat and playing simple instruments, to all the way to 5th grade when we're doing pretty good on recorder and ukulele and playing tricky rhythms and learning tricky songs. It's a lot of fun to watch their growth.
