Soul of 78- Keri Maddox
Kindergarten Teacher, TR Simmons Elementary
Words by Jenny Lynn Davis | Image by Al Blanton
By the time her class’s morning meeting begins, Keri Maddox already has a sense of how the day will unfold.
Her kindergarten students gather on the rug, legs folded imperfectly, voices settling as they begin their routine. From the outside, it looks simple enough – a familiar start to the school day. But Keri is paying attention to far more than the schedule. She is watching faces, posture, energy, and engagement. Who is smiling easily? Who is quieter than usual? Who might need a little more care before the day truly begins?
Keri has been teaching for 16 years, and kindergarten has always been where she feels most at home. In fact, she knew it almost as early as she can remember. At four years old, she lined up her dolls and taught them, certain even then that this was what she was meant to do. There was never a backup plan.
After graduating from Walker High School, she earned her degree in early childhood education from Auburn University and later completed her master’s at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Coming back to Jasper was not a decision she wrestled with. She wanted to be close to family, rooted in community, and part of the place that had shaped her.
Now at T.R. Simmons Elementary School, Keri’s days are anchored in consistency. Routines take weeks to establish. Schedules are followed carefully. Nearly every minute is planned, including lessons, stories, songs, and transitions between subjects, often down to small details most people would never notice.
Still, kindergarten is never only about what is written on the lesson plan; it’s about balance. Standards matter, but so do the small moments that can feel enormous to a five-year-old, like a lost tooth, a missing toy, or a shirt they did not choose for themselves. Keri meets her students where they are in those moments, sharing in the excitement or the disappointment before gently guiding them back toward the moment’s focus.
“The smallest things are big to them, because their feelings are really big at that age,” she says. “You can plan the learning parts of class all day long, but when it comes to those seemingly little moments, you have to go with the flow.”
Over time, she has learned how quickly she can sense when something is off. Sometimes it is written plainly on a child’s face. Other times, it reveals itself more slowly, through patience and trust. When something weighs on one of her students, Keri often carries it with her beyond the classroom, holding concern that will never appear on a report card.
“They’re always on my mind,” she says. “They really do become like part of my family.”
The emotional and mental energy required to be a kindergarten teacher is substantial. Keri pours herself into her classroom during the school day, then tries her best to shift fully into life at home, where she is a wife and mother to two children of her own. Rest, prayer, and time with family sustain her, as does a quiet certainty that she is exactly where she is meant to be.
“There are seasons where certain students and parents are placed in my life for a reason, and God has always made that so evident to me,” she says.
Affirmation comes in small ways, like a child who says they love coming to school, or a former student who returns years later, now studying education, eager to learn by Keri’s side. And each morning, as her students sit on the rug and begin their routine again, Keri is reminded why she chose this work.
If her students leave her classroom each day with one lasting feeling, she hopes it is that they are proud of themselves.
To her, that is the sign of a good day in Maddox’s class. 78