Hats Off to Mrs. Hale
Greenup County Teacher Warms the Hearts and Heads of Students
Lora Parsons
The Ashland Beacon
What better time of year to feature the extra special project of an extra special teacher than Teacher’s Appreciation Week! Winter has certainly passed and the scarves and toboggans are put away until another frosty season rolls around, but there’s never a wrong time to shine some light on a teacher worthy of some praise.
Brittany Hale from Greysbranch Elementary School in Greenup County posted a video back in March of an exciting reveal that she shared with her students. This video shows Hale opening up a large cardboard box and talking with her 1st graders about what they think could be in it. She reminded them of a picture they colored a few months prior, just after Christmas break, pulled one of the students’ drawings out of the box, and then pulled out a matching crocheted toboggan identical to the one on the paper. Viewers heard students in the background getting more and more excited as other toboggans are revealed, and they excitedly asked where theirs is. Eventually the video closes with all of the toboggans being spilled out onto the table and each student modeling the toboggan of their own design.
Hale said the idea for the project came from another social media post that she had seen earlier in the winter, prompting her to follow suit and figure out how she could make the same thing happen in her classroom. These sorts of projects are the exact kind she searches out: “I am always looking for classroom community ideas and [for ways to make] lasting core memories with each other.” Hale stated her motivation for this project was to strengthen the connection between students, their parents, and the greater community at large. “It really takes us all to shape these children’s lives into amazing adults.” She also shared that a project of this type allows her to connect with the students on another level, one that she hopes will enable them to “look back at those toboggans when they are adults” and remember how much they were loved by their 1st grade teacher who took them on some amazing adventures.
While a project of this type is born from a teacher’s heart, it isn’t one that everyone has the skill or ability to pull off. Hale had to enlist the help of her step-grandmother, Denise Quillen Snoddy of Boyd County. Hale and other family members have been on the receiving end of numerous handcrafted gifts from Snoddy including blankets and tissue box holders, but this one required just a little more work than most created gifts. Each hat took almost a full skein of yarn, for starters, so the cost of supplies for 23 would have added up quickly. As far as difficulty, Snoddy said: “The hats with just a few colors were very easy to make and only took a few hours. The hats with multiple colors took up to two days each.” As it turns out, crocheting, she said, was the easy part; “the hard part was sewing in all the loose ends which couldn’t be cut.” She explained that doing so would have caused the hats to all unravel, so every loose end had to be sewn in to make them look perfect. Doing all this 23 times was no small feat!
The amount of work on getting these toboggans crocheted doesn’t come close to the smiles the project has brought about, not only from students in Hale’s classroom but also from those who have had the privilege of seeing the project unfold. Brynlee Newland recalled being excited, especially when hers was the first one pulled out of the box: “It was cool because I drew a picture of a toboggan and then it came to life!” Another student, Brody Hunt, said: “I thought the surprise was going to be a PS5 for the class to play on rainy days when we couldn’t go outside…BUUUUUUT the toboggan was actually cooler!” All of the students in her classroom were thrilled with the way their creations jumped from the page into reality.
During her teacher education training at ACTC, Morehead State, and the University of the Cumberlands, there were no instructions given about having toboggans brought to life in order to be a good teacher. Hale’s coursework that led to a master's degree and Rank I credentials didn’t require a project which would mean enlisting family members in the work of her instruction. But, Hale fondly recalled the teachers who impacted her own life as a student and, therefore, her life as a teacher. Those teachers were ones found in the same county--the same school district--she now gets to serve. “I am a proud Greenup native through and through,” as is clearly demonstrated through this sort of work that goes beyond the realm of what is expected. Influenced in this way by two former teachers, Mrs. Dean Oaks and Mrs. Donetta Griffith, Hale is honored to get to share with a new generation of students what her teachers shared with her. “They showed me the love for teaching and always believed in me.” In reality, her teacher training program began inside the walls of their classrooms when she was a student, watching them work their own magic. It is Hale’s desire to continue to share with her students the ways that learning and connecting with the community can help all of us be inspired to make our own worlds a better place. These toboggans have touched her students’ lives and warmed their noggins for a few months now, but they also serve as a reminder to those of us on the sidelines of this project that there is still much good in the world…that sometimes comes in the form of turning a kid’s drawing into a toboggan (or 23 toboggans).
