“I’m an elementary PE teacher. I started because I didn’t want to coach anymore at the high school. It was right after my mom died of Lou Gehrig’s disease and I needed to change my pace a little bit. I came to Bryan Elementary, and they have been my blessing. They have been my medicine. I wish I had done this my whole time. Kids are loving and compassionate and funny and authentic. They become your best friends and they’ll forgive in an instant and love and miss you when you’re gone. It’s contagious. I’ve been here 19 years and it feels like maybe a year. When I first became a PE teacher, I was about content – every kid needed to know how to throw, jump, leap, all the things. And now my approach is, I want to know the kids first. All the other is icing on the cake. I think our calling as teachers is bigger than content. I don’t care that they’re the fastest. I don’t care if they know how to throw a ball. What I do care is that they care about their bodies, that they realize that their body is a gift and it’s up to them to take care of it. I want them to love people, just love people and serve others.” – Rebecca Recke, a PE teacher at Bryan Elementary School in Morris

Rebecca Recke enjoys working with children as a PE teacher. (Tamika Moore / People of Alabama)

Recke said she’s learned a lot from kids through the years.

“The biggest thing that I get from them is to forgive quickly. When somebody’s wrong, you forgive them and when you’ve wronged somebody, own it, and then move past it. Live in the moment. These kids live in the moment like nobody’s business. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, they’re all out 100% loving it no matter what we do. I hope to have gained that from them. I would love that when my time comes to retire or heaven, I hope folks will say that she sure did love life. That’s learned from my kindergarteners. They’re the best teachers.”

These are the faces and stories of people from all walks of life who call Alabama home. People of Alabama is a Red Clay Media and Alabama News Center partnership.