Kenna Krause honored after 31 years teaching years ago
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
Kenna Krause, kindergarten teacher at Centre Elementary School, was honored May 25 at a faculty/staff reception attended by many of her friends. She is leaving the Centre school district after 31 years in teaching.
Krause grew up at Kansas City. She has lived in this area of the state since graduating from college.
The road she took to become an elementary school teacher is an interesting one.
Although she knew she wanted to be a teacher, she thought she was more suited to teaching older students.
"I thought it was a huge responsibility to teach children to read," she said.
So she pursued a degree in social studies and psychology. After obtaining her bachelor's degree at Emporia State University, she saw there were more teaching positions available at the elementary level than the secondary level, so she pursued post-graduate elementary school certification.
While doing her student teaching, she found out that she enjoyed teaching children.
She taught in the lower grades at Council Grove and Wilsey for 10 years before going to Centre as a kindergarten teacher in 1986.
She found the position to be stimulating, forcing her to develop her own ideas and methods of teaching.
"The kids were excited about learning," she said. "I loved to see the spark in their eyes when they realized they could read."
Five years ago, the Centre school district instituted all-day kindergarten, the first in the county. It was funded by eliminating noon-time buses.
Krause once again drew upon her creative abilities to expand learning programs and activities for the children.
She said the all-day program was necessary in order to meet expectations. And, with preschool becoming more common, it was not a big adjustment for most students.
"Kindergarten has changed completely from when I started," she said. "It used to be an introduction to learning and being away from home. Now, it is a lot more academic. I have to make sure they master all the skills and still learn the basics."
She said she tried to continue to give the children freedom to be children and to express their creativity while teaching them the skills they needed.
Somewhere along the way, Krause earned a master's degree in reading.
She will be moving to Lawrence in August, where she plans to develop a new, all-day kindergarten program at Woodlawn Elementary School. School officials are banking on her experience at Centre to help her launch the program.
"I may miss getting to teach all of the children in a family, but I'll be going home," she said.
Krause's son, Jordan, lives in Lawrence, as well as many other relatives and friends.
A second son, Ben, is a junior at Centre High School.
Krause has other plans beside teaching. She has begun writing a book exploring relationships between grandchildren and grandparents. It will feature some people from the Centre community. She hopes to have it completed in approximately one year.
She also plans to take training with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, to be able to meet with families to determine their wishes.
Krause reflects with wonder on the path circumstances led her to take.
"Sometimes what we fear the most is what we end up cherishing the most," she said.
