Brittany Weatherill teaches fourth grade at Tarwater Elementary. This is her sixth year teaching and her second year at Tarwater.
Weatherill really enjoys where she is now because “the students in fourth grade just have an energy,” she explains. “They make everything fun and they are so funny, too.”
She likes that fourth graders are becoming more independent but that they still seek approval—they want to be treated like big kids but they still want their teacher in their lives, she adds.
Early on, Weatherill knew that she wanted to become a teacher since she liked to boss or read to her brother and stuffed animals. “I think I’ve always known it,” she says. In high school, she worked at an afterschool daycare and realized that a career working with kids was definitely her goal.
Nominating student Emma writes, “Ms. Weatherill is very fun and nice. She makes learning fun! She helps us when we need it.”
Weatherill is originally from Redlands, California. She attended Grand Canyon University and came back to Arizona for her job and because she has family that lives here.
A self-described risk taker, Weatherill says she likes to get her adrenaline going with activities like sky diving and riding roller coasters. She says this might surprise students who think teachers live boring lives.
Weatherill also enjoys reading and walking her dog. She has a whoodle (a wheaten/poodle mix) named Piper who is bouncy and energetic, too. “I am up at 4:30 in the morning walking,” she says. “We get our exercise and are ready for the day.”
Weatherill encourages students to go all in the classroom and in everything they do. She explains that it doesnt mean that they should push to give more than they can, but that they give all that they are able to give. She and her students even chant: “All in!”
Weatherill says she spends a lot of time thinking about her students. She says that students who think their teacher may not remember them, be assured, teachers do remember and think about them a lot—she does!
“I love my students,” says Weatherill. “I tell my students every single year that they are my favorite class, and every year it becomes more true.”
