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Betty Grossman
Teacher of the Month
By Crystal Patriarche
Several years ago, Betty Grossman would walk her daughters to Wayne Thomas Elementary School in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago. It was less than a two-minute walk from her house to the school's door. She noticed the crossing guard often did not show, so she marched into the school one day to complain to the principal.
Little did she know that would change her life, leading to her becoming the crossing guard for two years and eventually a teacher again. She had previously taught at the high school level, before taking on this new adventure at Wayne Thomas to teach fifth grade.
Her daughters are grown now, and she has a 4-year-old grandson, but Grossman still takes that short commute to the school that she says has become such a big part of her life.
"What first drew me to the school was my kids and the warm and inviting environment that I wanted to be a part of," Grossman says. "It's a pretty good commute and so much of my life has been spent there, so I continue to teach."
Grossman says she never wanted to be anything else but a teacher, since she was in fifth grade herself. She was a student aid in a summer school playground program in her Nebraska hometown and the first time a little girl held her hand, she thought this was heaven.
Even when her parents offered to put her through law school, she declined. "That was not interesting to me," she says. "I always knew teaching is where the action is and I still think so after 25 years. It is amazingly different every day."
