Parents always hope to find educators who can bring about a sense of joy during their children’s school days, and one of our readers has found this in Joy Copous, not just in her name, but in her level of care with her students, describing her as the “personification of love, hope, and joy” in all of her children.
Copous, who teaches Pre-K3 at Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, derived her inspiration for teaching early on from her mother, who was a third grade teacher. “She was an amazing role model,” says Copous. “I used to help her in her classroom, help organize her things, and just watch the creativity that she used with her students. And it just kind of inspired me to go out and teach creatively, not just through a bunch of worksheets and things like that.”
Although Copous had this strong role model growing up, her path as an educator wasn’t always clear to her until college. “For a little while, I thought that I might go into nursing, ultrasound, or something like that,” says Copous. “But it just didn’t feel right until I went back to education and all of a sudden, things just clicked.”
She says that she enjoyed going to class and being around people with common interests, and when she began her student teaching at Kansas Elementary and Farmington Elementary, she felt like she belonged. “There were just so many hardships [at Kansas Elementary], and I felt like I was making a difference in their lives,” says Copous. “And Farmington was just amazing. I felt accepted by both groups.”
She student-taught first grade at those schools and was offered a permanent job at Farmington, but she turned that down to work with younger kids because she wanted to reach kids at an earlier age to show them that learning can be fun, not scary.
“My thought was if I can change their perspective early, then maybe as they get to those older grades, they will feel they’ll be more prepared, and they’ll already have that love of school and not be afraid of the learning,” says Copous.
Copous uses a hands-on approach with her students, often using music, art, and play to help students learn multiple concepts at once. “Most of the lessons that we have teach a variety of things in that same lesson,” she says. “We teach things that look really really simple.”
One of her latest lessons involved having students paint with melting ice cubes that had food coloring in them so they could learn about the different properties of water while learning fine motor skills. “Even at a 3-year-old level, learning can be deeper than most people think,” she says.
One of Copous’ and her students’ favorite lessons, however, is the fruit bowl, or stone soup, lesson, where students are each asked to bring in a small baggie of fruit to put in a large bowl and share with the entire class. During this lesson, students learn about sharing, colors, recipes, and measurements. “That’s just a fun, multifaceted thing that we do,” says Copous. “It also creates teamwork and teaches character-building.”
Copous says she is impressed with how much her students, many of whom are learning four languages, can absorb. “I’ve had several students come to me not able to speak in English,” she says. “And at our school we teach Spanish three days a week, and I teach them sign language. So they might have come in only speaking Chinese or Vietnamese or something like that, and within a couple of months, they’re saying words in Spanish and English and still being able to communicate with their parents in their native tongue. They certainly learn languages faster than I do.”
Copous credits her principal, Karen Gephart, for being supportive and allowing her to think outside the box with her lesson plans. “She has allowed us to sort of rewrite the curriculum,” says Copous. “We are a Catholic school, so we do teach religion every day. But instead of just teaching it out of the book, she’s allowed me to teach it in a fun and innovative way.”
Copous says she has learned a lot in her 20 years of teaching, like learning to find a good balance with her partners and assistants, but most importantly, she’s learned adaptability from making learning fun for her students.
“I think I learn something every day,” she says. “Being able to adapt when this project or this lesson isn’t going well. I’ll say, ‘Let’s just switch gears,’ and if they’re really leaning toward this other thing, we can tie it in to what we’re learning. It’s just going with the flow, because every class is different.”
Copous offers a few pieces of advice to other teachers. “I would definitely say be willing to try new things, but don’t be afraid to fail,” she says. “Failing doesn’t make you a failure. What makes you successful is if you can have a lesson that doesn’t work and then recover from it. Also, dream. The kids want to dream with you. Be sincere with the children, because they can tell when you’re not. They’re really good judges of character, sometimes better than most adults. Most importantly, smile and love them.”
We want to shine a light on your child’s teacher, or even a teacher who made a difference in your life. Submit your nomination today by emailing teacher@memphisparent.com.