Diana Groten gets to her job as a Grade 4 teacher at Vital Grandin Catholic Elementary School at 6:40 every morning, even though class doesn’t start until 8:30 a.m. After the students leave at 3:10, she works at the school until 5 p.m., marking, preparing lessons and, occasionally, providing one-to-one tutoring for students that are in need of extra help. By the time she fits in a three-times weekly workout at the gym with her husband, John, a principal at an Edmonton school, it’s 7:30 p.m. before she gets home – well over a 12-hour day for this veteran teacher.
Does she mind? Not a bit. Is she ready to pack it in for a less hectic schedule? Not likely – the children keep her coming back, she said, and while it may sound corny, Groten sees her work as a calling, never a job.
“It gives me life. I feel humbled to be part of a whole family’s life, and what’s been fun too is having the same kids come around again. I get to know them well,” said Groten, who in her 15 years at Vital Grandin has taught grades one to five for varying lengths of time. (The St. Albert-area resident got her education degree about 30 years ago, teaching first in Calgary and taking time off to raise her four children before returning to the classroom full-time).
“What’s meaningful to me is shaping the whole person. Being part of a faith-based school is important to me – I tell the kids it’s not just about your head. We get to the learning, of course, but I think kids are hungry for relationships and sharing,” she said. “And I try to focus on our being part of a community – looking out for and being generous with each other. I try to think, “If a parent walked into my class, would they be happy with what they see?” I treat them like they are my own kids.”
The soft-spoken Groten has taught every subject, but has found a niche in developing a literacy framework for grades four to six. The walls of her classroom are lined with fully-stocked bookcases (most of the books are her own), but this experienced teacher is also big on teaching kids wherever they’re at, through multiple intelligences such as music or movement.
“I try to teach something three different ways each day. If kids aren’t getting it, then it’s my job to try another way, with rhythms or visuals, in small groups or solo efforts,” Groten said. In fact, she’s often pulled out the guitar in class, teaching through song and rhyme too.
Groten must be doing something right. While she said her children, now all in their 20s, vowed never to be teachers (probably because mom and dad are), two are now following their parents career path.
“I’m enthusiastic about teaching. I love to see where kids start from in September and where they get to by the end of the year.”
