Teacher Feature: Teacher Thrives on Educating in Transition Year

Eighth grade was a good year for Emily Eickmeyer. She’s hoping her eighth graders will have a similar experience for her first year teaching in the district.

Eickmeyer remembers her eighth grade year as a transition time. It’s a year in which students are faced with academic and social obstacles. She appreciates the challenge to help students grow and mature at a tough age.

“I want to help my students bring out the best in themselves,” Eickmeyer said. “I want to help them discover the world, and themselves.”

Eickmeyer graduated from the University of Missouri in December 2010 and is certified to teach in both middle and high schools. After graduation, Eickmeyer substitute taught in the Lindbergh School District. There, Eickmeyer worked with different students with different abilities.

“I experienced going into different classrooms and developing a connection immediately,” Eickmeyer said. “It helped me be able to adapt to whatever the situation may be.”

Eickmeyer chose to teach language arts because she felt her reading and writing skills were strong. Through English, Eickmeyer believed she could help the most students, the best.

She is particularly interested in developing her students’ writing ability. Eickmeyer believes that when students develop their writing, they better understand themselves.

“Writing gives students a voice,” Eickmeyer said. “In writing we can flesh out what else is important to us. We can find out who we are as individuals.”

She also wants to motivate her students to read more often. Her biggest goal for her students is for them to be life-long learners.

“I want my students to strengthen those skills for the rest of their lives,” Eickmeyer said.

Eickmeyer plans on having her students read together in class to better understand text. The department has chosen for eighth graders to read, The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. The story is of a 16-year-old girl surviving in what was North America after an apocalypse. Eickmeyer hopes the book sparks her students to ask questions about society.

When Eickmeyer is not teaching, she loves to indulge in all aspects of St. Louis culture. She attended many Muny theater shows over the summer, her favorite being “Singing in the Rain.” The Ursuline Academy graduate is also a dedicated Cardinals and Mizzou fan.

Eickmeyer also enjoys spending time with her 4-year-old niece and 2-month-old nephew.

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