By FRED KRONER
The concept of teachers as nurturers is at the heart of what retiring Mahomet-Seymour speech therapist Chris Russell enjoyed about her 22 years in the district.
“Working with Middletown Prairie students has been similar to tending a beautiful garden,” Russell said. “Each year has brought many new seeds and bulbs at the beginning of the new school year.
“With the help of the many ‘gardeners’ at MPE, the seeds and bulbs have grown into gorgeous flowers with many different colors, sizes and shapes.
“I have been so fortunate to have been able to see our amazing gardens grow over the past 22 years. I know that our children will continue their growth for many years to come.”
The former Chris Karker grew up around the education system in Albany, N.Y. Her mother was a school psychologist.
“I had an opportunity to visit her school often and was fortunate to be able to spend a day shadowing their speech therapist.
“I knew after that experience I had found my passion, my profession.”
In her first two years of college though, her declared major was anthropology. It was an easy call to switch her career path.
“I have always been interested in people’s voices,” she said. “This may have come from my musical background. I was taught Suzuki violin when I was very young and also had piano lessons.
“I enjoyed playing violin in our high school and college orchestras. The other area I felt matched my personality was seeing how much a speech therapist can help her students.
“I have always loved being around young children and really loved the idea of being able to help young children learn to communicate.”
Russell was comfortable in a classroom setting from the outset.
“I grew up meeting school teachers and staff,” she said. “I grew to appreciate the need in our schools for staff who can help best support the diversity of student skills and needs.
“I actually attended a couple conferences with my mother which taught strategies for working with student diversity.”
As she discovered, some things could only be achieved by trial and error. There is not a manual that covers all possible scenarios.
No challenge, however, was too big for Russell.
“Helping staff problem-solve sticky situations with our students has always been something I have enjoyed,” she said. “A few years ago, one of my students was struggling with leaving school at the end of the day.”
Different plans had been employed, but none were consistently successful.
“The parent often had to come pick up the student from school,” Russell said.
She worked with his classroom team to find a workable solution.
“I wondered if we could try having a highly motivating activity planned for him by the door closest to the school bus,” Russell said. “This little boy was fascinated by my Humpty Dumpty unit.”
He was especially fond of watching the Humpty Dumpty egg – a real egg secured inside a double zip-locked bag – fall and smash to pieces.
“Thus began the Humpty Dumpty Project,” Russell said. “Each day I prepared Humpty Dumpty and the student helped decide what material Humpty would sit on before he fell.
“Then he very happily and excitedly walked to the target door with his class and we all re-enacted the Humpty Dumpty tale. Everyone was thrilled to see Humpty break.”
It didn’t end there for the student.
“The little boy would get to hold the zip lock and very happily walked to his school bus with his ‘prize,’” Russell said. “I am happy to report that this ended up solving the dismissal issue completely.”
Russell concedes that not everyone was as elated as the young student.
“Staff may have gotten a bit tired of Humpty Dumpty, but changing where he sat daily did help,” she said.
There was rarely a shortage of locations for the Humpty Dumpty drop to take place.
“Our student was very creative about finding very tall items that Humpty Dumpty could fall from, including a block tower, tall box, broom and a Lego tower,” Russell said.
Precautions were taken so that a mess wasn’t left on the bus.
“The student’s daily egg stayed with the bus driver until he arrived home,” Russell said.
Illinois is the third state in which Russell has worked after completing her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at The College of Saint Rose, in Albany, N.Y. She has viewed each stop as a learning experience.
“My first job was (in New York) working with 3- to 6-year-olds in a preschool program designed to help young at-risk students,” Russell said.
After getting married in 1992, Russell and her husband, Craig, relocated to his military assignment at West Point.
“I had the opportunity to work for a program that assisted adults who needed job training support as well as an at-risk preschool population,” she said.
By the time they moved to Jackson, Miss., the Russells had added a young daughter to their family.
“I was able to work with head start programs and a private practice group,” Russell said. “I also had an opportunity to work at the University Medical Center treating a variety of patients.”
She not only helped to teach new ENT residents about voice and fluency disorders, but also learned about voice disorders from an experienced fellow speech pathologist.
“I learned many treatment and evaluation techniques that I am using to this day,” she said.
Leaving the south for Mahomet was an intentional decision, Russell said.
“In Mississippi (in the 1990s), we found that while segregation was no longer the law, and that people talked positively about integration in their front yards, there were subtle ways that showed us that racism was practiced and supported,” she said. “We wanted our children to grow up in a culture that was less racist.”
With a young son in tow, the family of four settled in Mahomet in 1998. Russell was initially hired to work at the junior high school, but never made it into that building.
“Right before the school year started, I was asked if I would change gears and work at Middletown Early Childhood Center,” she said.
She didn’t need to be asked twice.
“I was elated,” Russell said. “I knew my true passion was working with the younger students.
“I was thrilled to begin what would be a 22-year career at Middletown Prairie.”
She has worked with students from ages 3 to 8.
“Over the years, I have seen changes in our students,” Russell said. “Many times, I begin working with 3-year-olds who have had many experiences with family technology such as cell phones or tablets, but with less exposure to books, art materials, simple board games or toys like Legos.”
The first step, she said, is helping her new young students get ready to learn.
“Often now my new students have very short attention spans, need ‘flashy’ learning materials and need to learn to attend to books, games or materials,” Russell said.
“Many new students spend large amounts of time on technology but do not know how to interact with their peers or adults.
“Social language skills, strong communication skills and attention are important not just for navigating the school day, but for future job opportunities. These are all skills that I have definitely worked on with all my students to ensure future success.”
Her efforts have helped to create long-term results.
“One of the most amazing rewards of my job has been seeing the amazing progress our children make during their journey to improve their communication skills,” Russell said. “Many times, I have been thrilled to hear parents relate stories about how their child can now speak clearly to all family members.
“I have also had parents visit with stories about how well their child is doing in college or their new profession. One of the best rewards is listening to students use their newly learned communication skills with their peers in the classroom.
“Student communication growth has a huge impact on their school and home lives.”
Her final weeks as a teacher are not ending in the way she had anticipated before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March.
“Remote learning has not been ideal,” she said, “but I am contacting parents of my students weekly and am thrilled to get updates from many.
“I do very much miss all my students and the wonderful staff members.”
