Teacher Tuesday: Covenant Christian’s Meaghan Greiner.

Meaghan Greiner

Teacher Tuesday: Covenant Christian’s Meaghan Greiner.

Teacher Tuesday is a presentation of Shelby State Bank, www.shelbystatebank.com.

By Kate Krieger, MCP Staff Writer.

AMBER TOWNSHIP  – Graduating from Pentwater in 2009, Meaghan Greiner has been working at Covenant Christian School for four years as a full-time teacher.

“I graduated from college (Cornerstone University) in 2013 and began substitute teaching immediately,” she said. “In 2016, I was blessed to be able to teach at Covenant Christian School, where I will be starting my fifth year as a full-time teacher.”

During her time as a substitute teacher, Greiner said she was able to get her feet wet by working with a variety of age groups.

“As a substitute teacher, I taught in schools from Ludington to Muskegon,” she said. “During that time, I was honored to be able to do long term substitute positions at Edgewood Elementary in Fruitport for first grade and at Oceana Christian School for third and fourth grade, and then again for fifth and sixth grade. In 2016, I began full-time teaching at Covenant Christian School in first and second grade where I have taught the last four years, but I will be moving to fifth and sixth grade for the upcoming year.”

Greiner said working with kids has been something she has always wanted to do ever since she was young.

“I have always loved kids,” she said. “From the time I was in elementary school myself, I would sit my baby brother down in our living room and teach math and reading to him. As I matured, that love for kids grew into tutoring, teacher aiding, and being a student leader. Kids learn in many ways and I enjoy meeting them where they are at and provide them with tools to succeed. I chose to be a teacher because I love kids and want to make school fun and enjoyable for them.”

Building relationships with students has always been one of the most important aspects of teaching for Greiner and she said she enjoys when an unplanned moment in the classroom can build upon those teacher-student relationships.

“My favorite thing about teaching is the kids,” she said. “Kids are unique, fun, silly, and spontaneous. We never have two days that are the same. I enjoy getting to interact with them and build relationships with them where we can learn and grow from each other. I find joy in watching my students succeed. I enjoy working with them and witnessing when concepts finally make sense and they have an ‘a-ha’ moment, or when they are able to apply the concepts we have learned. My favorite moments with the kids are ones that are not planned out; where we are just having fun together. One day we learned about other countries using snails for facials, and then at recess I saw some of my students snail hunting and putting them on their faces to see how their skin felt.”

Although there are many joys that come along with a career as a teacher, there are also some things that aren’t always as enjoyable for the teacher or the students.

“Many teachers today are bound to the curriculum and standards to accommodate all the testing that students endure,” Greiner said. “This makes it difficult for teachers to have the freedom to step away from curriculum to teach units on other topics the students are interested in. Education needs to adapt to the learning desires of our kids and allow teachers opportunities to build on their students’ curiosities.”

Many educators feel very rewarded in their career choices and Greiner definitely falls into that category and she feels anyone who has a passion for children and learning should consider teaching as a career.

“Having the opportunity to pour into the lives of our students and help shape our future is honorable and worth your effort,” she said. “Teaching is a job where you can have fun, be creative, and if something doesn’t go exactly as you planned, your audience will never notice.”

As times have become a lot different in the last six months for educators, Greiner, along with thousands of other teachers have had to turn to distance learning to interact with their students. During this time, teachers have really put in a lot of extra hours learning how to maneuver through the online world and this has, at times dampened those teacher-student relationships.

“Teaching during the coronavirus closures brought challenges and made me an online teacher overnight,” Greiner said. “While my students continued learning through homemade teaching videos, the hardest part was not seeing them. I missed watching them learn and grow in their education. I missed getting to do all of our fun end of the year activities and saying good-bye.”

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