Teacher lives for those ‘small moments’
Honesty.
That’s the most valuable lesson Heritage Elementary guidance counselor Larinda Donnell said she teaches her students.
“They have to be honest with themselves because nobody is perfect,” Donnell said.
“They have to be ale to accept the fact that when they make a mistake, they have to be true to themselves enough to know that they made a mistake, but it’s ok because they learned from it.”
The Dalehill, Ala. native received her bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Alabama A&M.
“I really had always wanted to be a teacher,” Donnell said. “I don’t know if it was because I’m bossy, but when I was five years old, I played school with stuffed animals and baby dolls. It’s just been a long time that I’ve wanted to be a teacher. You go through different ideas, but by the time I got through my first year of college, I knew that’s was going to happen.”
After completing her master’s at Alabama State University, Donnell began teaching seventh grade English at a school in Enterprise and then at Discovery Middle School, before coming to Heritage Elementary in August 2010 as a guidance counselor.
“When I was a teacher, I could only be of service to a small group of students, as a counselor, I’m able to have an affect on all the students.”
As school counselor, Donnell is responsible for character education, in which she conducts guidance lessons where classes come in and talk about character traits, trustworthiness, respect and fairness.
“It’s important that they have the bottom line,” she said. “The bottom line is character. If they aren’t confident with themselves, they can’t perform as they should, if they aren’t stable in health, well being and social skills, they won’t be able to perform well.”
She holds sessions for students who need extra guidance with social skills and anxiety and works with those students, even consulting with parents when necessary.
“It keeps me going, it’s my motivation,” Donnell said. “Especially when they let you know it. It’s a very busy job and sometime’s I’m a bit overwhelmed, but those small moments are what keeps me going.”
