Kalli Bruck

Kalli Bruck of Loves Park is in her second year teaching early childhood at Caledonia Elementary School. She’s been teaching for 21 years. Kalli says, “I am often the first formal teacher that a student and family works with.” She is proud to set the tone for a student’s educational journey and build the foundation for positive home-school relationships. A student’s parent who nominated her wrote, “Mrs. Bruck has done so many wonderful things for my son and his education. She participates in all activities with her students and always makes sure they come first. She is very informative and excels with communication.” Kalli teaches a full-inclusion class with students who range in age from three to five years old as well as in abilities. She has had students who use a wheelchair or walker, students who have Down Syndrome, Autism or traumatic brain injuries. Her students may still be working on responding to their name or may be ready to learn how to read.  “Every lesson I plan requires differentiation for different ability levels. I am constantly asking myself how can this activity become more challenging and what are the prerequisite skills I can work on with students who are not yet ready for this task.” She welcomes students or their parents to speak about their unique needs. “A student who uses a wheelchair showed the class how it works. I think these discussions are important for preschoolers to help them be more understanding” when they meet people who have disabilities. Kalli sets rules and expectations early, finding though that sometimes her gentle reminders aren’t enough. “Other times, I have to reteach and address a deeper issue within my students, which is often a result of trauma that the student has experienced. This process is so much more than simply classroom management. It is intentional teaching and monitoring of social emotional learning for my students.” Her goal is to teach children social and emotional skills and to prepare them with the pre-academic skills they will need to be successful in kindergarten. But, preschoolers are different than they were 21 years ago. Kalli has found that she has needed to add more hands-on and multisensory instruction to reach all type of learners and keep them engaged. “For example, instead of simply naming letters, I have my students trace them in sand or make their bodies into the shape of a letter.” Classroom observers commented about how calm the students were. They said Kalli was “extremely organized for herself and students” with “step-by-step instructions and expectations.”