- The kids love humor.

They love silliness and they respond to that.

I've taught something several times and I'll ask a question.

If the kids don't get it, I'll flop on the floor and say, "No, how did you not get this?"

And then they laugh, they think it's funny, and they're paying attention more.

(light music) My name is Chantelle Browning.

I'm a teacher at Hurricane Elementary, and I teach third grade.

- When I first met Chantelle, she was my learning coach here.

She helped me immensely with becoming the teacher that I am right now, because I learned a lot from her.

She's always given me ideas and she's given me so much support.

(light music continues) When I walk into Chantelle's classroom, I see students that are engaged and inspired by what she is teaching.

- I'll say like, "This is my favorite," and the kids say, "You said that about math."

Or I'll say, "I love writing."

They say, "You said that about reading."

- She tries to find out what her students are interested in and includes that in things that we're learning in our curriculum.

- There was a day where I said, "Oh, let's skip a few of these slides and go ahead," 'cause we couldn't get to all of the curriculum.

And the kids were so upset, they said, "No, we wanna learn about fractions.

We want you to still do it."

And they were just so excited, I kinda stopped and said, "You guys want to stop and learn some more math?

What kids beg to do math?"

And they were begging me to do math and I loved it.

I just thought, "Oh, this is so great.

They want to learn and they're inspired to learn."

You don't get that very often.

The first day of school, the first thing that they're supposed to do when they go home is learn a handshake.

I call it the super secret handshake.

- And she remembers those and practices with them every morning.

- And that's the way that I greet them.

So some of 'em are kinda silly.

We do little dance moves or claps, snaps, doing some things.

We've got different kids that have me going down on the ground and then jumping back up and clapping.

- And I really feel that that shows the students that she cares because she learns each of those 24 handshakes and greets them every morning.

- I hope it's something that they can look forward to each morning.

I know sometimes going to school every single day for a kid can be hard or daunting, especially if they're learning something new.

So I hope they look forward to that and they know I'm in it with you, I'm here with you, I support you.

Whatever obstacle they face, I'm gonna be there with them, helping them through it.

- So they really feel like they are cared for and they have really strong relationships with their teacher.

(light music continues) Reading is really important to her, and she gives a book to each of the students at the beginning of every month.

And some of those kids, they've never had their own books.

- But I've also been involved with the publishing club where students in third, fourth, and fifth can come and they can write books and stories and get them published.

- It was really a great experience for all of the kids that did it.

- There's been some shy students, and as they've come to publishing club, they've made really good relationships with other kids.

- I know I've had students that from my classes that were not really confident with their writing, but it was something that they were kind of interested in.

And their writing really grew from it.

- They've been able to basically put their feelings on paper and I feel like they've come out of their shell through their writing.

I've seen things that I don't think they ever would've talked about, so that's been rewarding to see.

(light music continues) - She tries really hard to have a good relationship with each of her students, and she's just so caring.

- They all have issues.

They all have needs.

We all do as humans.

And trying to go above and beyond and making sure that they're as comfortable as possible so that they can learn, I just think that's the most important thing, 'cause you can't get to the learning until you have all the other needs taken care of.

(light music continues) Sometimes, I am their emotional support.

I am their nurse.

I'm their teacher.

I am their counselor.

I'm everything sometimes to these kids, and so, one of the main things I'd wanna tell 'em is, if you wanna be happy in life and you wanna be successful, find other people to go out and serve and find other people that you can help.

And that will take you outside of yourself and that will make your life so successful and so happy.

(light music continues)