A constant at St. Malachy

St. Malachy first-grade teacher Ann Levine can see, from her own classroom, the building where she student-taught.

But after 45 years at Malachy, she can see much more in Creston-area youth and families.

A 1974 Creston graduate, she attended Southwestern Community College before transferring to Northwest Missouri State University where she used the fast-track to get a degree in 1977.

She initially considered nursing, but, “Sometimes you go and find out things you have to take. I changed my mind,” she said. Elementary education was the next choice.

The decades-long connection she would establish with many Creston-area families started during student teaching at the former Franklin Elementary.

“Melissa Sickels was in my student-teaching class,” Levine said. “She was Melissa Hudson then.”

Looking for work, Levine said elementary teaching jobs were highly competitive.

“Back then, it’s not so anymore, it was hard to get a teaching job in elementary. There were usually 200 to 300 applicants at that time. A lot of competition,” she said.

She was informed St. Malachy had found a new principal and was working on filling its multiple teaching positions.

“The only two teachers who were left over from that fall were second grade an eight grade,” she said. “I guess I’ll take first since I student taught first.”

She started in the fall of 1978 hired by Rosemary Moore.

She has not done anything else since.

Her first class had 11 students, which fell in the normal range of 10 to 15 at Malachy. There was a class of 18, “which was big back then.”

Last year, Levine had 25.

“It has changed,” she said.

This year, she has 13 students.

Levine, 67, said she was ready to make teaching a career, but “I didn’t think I’d be here this long; things happen.”

She did experience the potential of teaching in a town she was from; meeting the children of families she knew outside the classroom.

“I wasn’t married the first couple years I taught” she said. “After I got married, my husband and I ran around with the people who I had their kids. You just have to know how to separate that.”

Levine said the parents who knew her personally outside of school, still addressed her as Mrs. Levine. And many of her former students who occasionally see her still call her Mrs. Levine.

“It’s amazing they still do that,” she said. “I really appreciate that they respect I was their child’s teacher.”

She has not kept track of how many children of students she has had in her classroom, but knows its several.

A computer didn’t show up in her room until the mid 1980s; strapped to a cart.

“I didn’t have a clue,” she said about how to use. “It sat there for a long time until we started to take classes on how to use it. I come from no computer knowledge to this,” she said as personal laptop computers and headphones rest on student desks. First-graders use the technology on a daily basis for their assignments.

It doesn’t matter if it’s on paper and pencil or a computer screen, the fundamentals of education haven’t changed for Levine.

“Reading is always one of the most important things I do in first grade,” she said. “And I always have taught phonics.” Phonics involves matching the sounds of English with letters or groups of letters. For example, the sound k can be spelled as c, k, ck or ch. Teaching children to blend the sounds of letters together helps them decode unfamiliar or unknown words by sounding them out.

St. Malachy Principal Jennifer Simmons said she is honored to work with Levine.

“Ann Levine is an amazing and dedicated educator. She has never stopped learning and is always willing to try new things,” Simmons said. “I am forever grateful she has decided to spend her years as a teacher at St. Malachy School. She is definitely one of the many reasons this school is so great.”

Levine wants her classroom to be a place for change.

“I take little kids from kindergarten and turn them into students,” she said. “They don’t have desks in kindergarten. We have desks. They have work they have to do and turn it in.”

There are many ways Levine sees a successful first-grade student.

“I do expect you to sit there, work through our lesson. I expect you to be quiet when you need to be quiet and talk when I want you to talk,” she said.

She is not sure how much longer she will want to teach as her teaching certificate expires in January 2028. She has no regrets.

“It’s been a good life. I’ve have greatly enjoyed these kids. I have a lot of parent support,” she said. “That has made why I stay here.”