Henrico's Top Teachers – Jill Bennett

Jill Bennett does not come from a family of teachers but always wanted to be one. When she left western Pennsylvania to attend the University of Richmond, it was her own teachers that inspired her.

“I’ve always felt called to helping kids learn and discover and grow,” Bennett said.

Ask her why she teaches and you can hear her own excitement as she discusses how excited her students are about learning. One of her favorite parts about teaching is that young students still love school.

“At first grade, the level that I teach, the kids just have this unquenchable desire to learn and explore and discover things,” Bennett said.

She loves watching her students’ young personalities bloom from September to June. To Bennett, curiosity comes naturally to young minds, and she does her best to cater to that.

When her students were being taught geology, one of them asked Bennett why, if Earth is just land and water, everything isn't flooded? Bennett then followed up with the concept of sea-levels.

“Yes, they’re six, yes, they’re seven, but they have some pretty incredible things that they think of and they ask,” Bennett said. “I think that the greatest success in a classroom happens when a teacher actually listens to her or his own kids.”

Her ability to listen and use what she observes to the benefit of individual student is evident to parents.

"Our son likes to have extra space at times, and she developed a section in the back of the room for moments when he needs to complete his work, but not at his group table," one wrote in a nomination letter. "She seeks out additional resources within the school to help children who may need a bit of extra guidance. She is extremely creative with her approach to teaching students."

One of Bennett’s best tools is transparency. She goes as far as maintaining a daily blog for her class, so that parents may get a glimpse of their children’s day in school. Her goal is to keep open communication between herself, her students and their parents.

She also urges her students to do good things for the people around them. During her class time, she speaks with her students about kindness and what it looks like. She encourages her students to help other people and make their day better.

Another one of her tools is the "challenge board" she utilizes. On it, her classroom develops an answer. Then, her students spend the next few days cultivating questions that cater to the answer. In this way, Bennett’s students get to think outside of the box and form their own questions, piquing their curiosity.

“We’re in the business of cultivating curiosity, and if we can’t do that then that’s when we lose them,” Bennett said.