“The most important part of my day is listening,” says Marie Kraska, “it’s critical that my first-graders understand what being heard looks and feels like, since they are being asked to be listeners most of their day. I want them to understand learning as a reciprocal system of being heard.”
While students in Mrs. Kraska’s class spend their day learning the foundations of academics they’ll encounter over the next twelve years, they are also learning how to be in a classroom, and in community. “I spend my days teaching students how to read…how to add and subtract, but I’m also teaching them what it means to be a good friend. How to make our shared learning space more inviting and accessible to all.”
Marie began her career teaching first graders at St. Mary’s School in Richland Center, Wisconsin. She was twenty-three years old at the time. After five years of service, she took a job as the director of the Head Start program in Wonewoc, Wisconsin. During her time working in Head Start, Marie began working with higher populations of special needs students, and decided that she wanted to increase her training in the service of the children she was working with. Upon completing her Birth to 8 Special Education license, Mrs. Kraska began the 4KProgram in the Wonewoc-Center School District.
Marie embraces the challenges of progress. Over the course of her career, she’s become a model for others on how to view continued development. Greg Johnson, Curriculum Coordinator and Instructional Coach, explains, “Marie isn’t just open to progress. I believe it’s a sustaining principle in her practices - she wants to keep improving. It’s significant for a veteran teacher with over thirty-five years of experience to model that for others. It’s the most dynamic way to spread ideas and practices, by example.”
Marie’s influence is clear among her colleagues, but her students feel the greatest impact. She shared, "Having some of the students I've taught come back and become teachers here is one of the clearest ways to see the affect you've had as an educator."
Mrs. Kraska began her career at Hillsboro over twenty-six years ago, and both of her children graduated from HHS. “We have made this our home,” Marie says, “and this district really is like a family. We have ups and downs, but when it comes to the community having our back, Hillsboro is hands down the best.”