In elite company

When Dr. Maria Montessori opened her first classroom in 1907, she began a movement of new educational approaches that are child centered and are based on scientific observations. One of these Montessori schools is located here in Ville Platte, and one of its teachers is among an elite group of teachers in the State of Louisiana.
Over the Easter break, Heather Demoruelle received word that she had been selected as one of the eight finalists for State Teacher of the Year in the elementary division.
“I would say that it has not sunk in yet just because it seemed so sudden and unexpected,” Demoruelle commented. “It was definitely a surprise because I know they have amazing teachers, and I know I don’t have the most experience. I wasn’t expecting that.”
Demoruelle was selected out of a pool of more than 200 educators. She described the process of making the cut for this version of the Elite 8. “Each year, every school nominates someone in each division of elementary, middle school, and high school,” she said. “From that, you go on to compete at the district level against the people who were nominated in your division from each school in the parish. There are several judges, and you do essays and an interview, which made me very nervous. It felt like I was on trial almost. It’s intimidating because there was a lot of experience in that room too.”
“Then you’re chosen from there to represent the district as elementary, middle school, or high school Teacher of the Year for the parish,” she continued. “From there, you can go on to compete at the state level, which is what I did over Thanksgiving and Christmas break. I worked on my essays, my video response, my resume, and things like that. From there, they’ll take all of the applicants and choose 24 for Teacher of the Year.”
For Demoruelle, being named one of the top eight is not only an honor for her but for her school as well. “I think it’s an honor because even though it’s my name that was chosen, or I’m the Teacher of the Year, a lot of my essays and things I had to write on and reflect on through my last teaching year was a lot about the collaboration because we work a lot as a team over here,” she stated. “Everybody’s been so helpful. This is just my fourth year, but there’s no way I would have been able to do it without the experience of the people here that could help me. I think for the school it’s a great honor, and it’s part of them too because of their support.”
Demoruelle’s humility in giving all the credit to the James Stephens Montessori family was also shown in the essays that she wrote as part of the competition process. “The essays covered everything from our teaching experience, how we are as an innovator, how we connect with the community, how do we teach the whole child, and what we do in the community,” she explained.
She continued, “I mentioned a lot about how here at James Stephens we use data very much to guide our instruction to see where we’re going with things, to see if the kids are ready, to see where we can challenge them, to see where we need to remediate, and to make sure they’re on their learning targets. I also talked about our community events that we do, like hosting a career day to tie in the community and keep everybody connected.”
Beside deflecting credit to the school, she also gave credit to her husband Jacob for encouraging her throughout the process and her career. “I don’t know how he put up with me through the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks,” Demoruelle said. “I had a lot of work for state, but he was super supportive of it. He watched the video with me and helped critique and edit. He always helped me my whole career, too, from cutting things out and laminating.”
Demoruelle, the 2004 graduate from Pine Prairie High School, was influenced by some of her own teachers. “I remember Elaine Johnson was one of my favorite teachers,” she said. “She taught me english language arts. Others were Doug Fontenot and Anita West, who is still a principal in Evangeline Parish now. She taught me biology, and I love science. I was intrigued by it.”
“I liked learning,” she continued. “I guess that spills into now because they say teachers have to be life-long learners. I enjoy learning new things, and I hope to spark that interest in my students as my teachers did for me.”
After high school, Demoruelle worked as a medical office assistant but soon discerned that she “wanted to do more for the community” and decided to pursue an educational degree. She explained what drove her back to college as an adult. “It was that interest of being a life-long learner,” she stated. “I wanted to be able to inspire that in kids, and I wanted them to love learning. I wanted to make it fun for them and to invest something in our community because I live here and hope to raise kids here one day. I want to do my part to make sure that the people who are going to be taking care of the community are caring and educated in order to make a positive impact.”
Demoruelle finished college again in 2014 and soon began teaching first and second graders at James Stephens where she has been ever since. Over her four years of teaching, she has implemented different hands-on methods of teaching that reflect the mission of Montessori schools. The current hands-on learning project is the water cycle. Students dressed up as different parts of the cycle, and Demoruelle dressed up as the sun. “We’re teaching the students the process of what a cycle is and how to draw facts from a text,” she said. “We will also read a fictional text about a drop of water that is going to travel all around the world to let the students know water is one of our most precious natural resources and that we have to conserve and protect it.”
All of these teaching methods have caused Demourelle to be selected as one of the eight elementary finalists for State Teacher of the Year. “I’m just extremely honored and humbled,” she concluded. “I just want to thank everybody at our James Stephens learning community and the parish who gave me such a good supportive basis for teaching. Without them, I wouldn’t have made it to the state level. I’m just very honored, and I hope that I represent Evangeline Parish well.”