Bellflower : Kindergarten Teacher Wins District’s Top Yearly Honor
Kindergarten teacher Anita O. Wilson has been honored as the Bellflower Unified School District’s Teacher of the Year. Wilson, who has been teaching at Washington Elementary School since 1980, was praised by Principal Mike Medlen for her generosity, dedication and teaching philosophy.
Wilson, 52, who keeps a guinea pig, hamster, rabbit and several goldfish in her classroom, said she has long believed it is more important to instill confidence and curiosity in children with hands-on instruction, rather than with the pencil-and-paper academic instruction that became so popular in the past 20 years.
“There is a place for all things,” Wilson said. “If children can learn to feel good about themselves and they can carry that experience with them as they grow, what a marvelous experience they will have in school.”
Wilson is a member of the PTA, the Bellflower Education Assn. board of directors and numerous other committees.
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