Barbara Hunt

On February 28, 2019, we had the pleasure of interviewing Ms. Barbara Hunt. She is the director of curriculum and instruction for Junior Kindergarten through fifth grade. Though she sometimes works with younger children in the Lower School to help with their reading and writing skills, most of Ms. Hunt's job consists of working alongside the teachers in the Lower and Intermediate Schools to help with the ways they teach reading, writing and math. She passes on a lot of useful resources like articles, books and ideas to her teacher colleagues to help them. She has lots of meetings with teachers, and sometimes talks to kids about their curriculum too. Ms. Hunt worked for a long time as a fifth grade teacher at Parker. She has worked at Parker for 34 years. She would like to stay at her job for the foreseeable future.

For Ms. Hunt, progressive education means thinking of individuals as members of the community, and always putting the education that the child needs and the materials they need to use first. When asked if she would like to change anything about her current job, Ms. Hunt said that sometimes, although she likes her job, she misses being in a classroom interacting more with kids. She also shared that she prefers project-based learning. When asked what improvements she would make to the school if she had the money at her disposal, Ms. Hunt said that over the years, she has realized that the first and second grade classrooms are too small to accommodate all the students they need to. She would like to enlarge and remodel those classrooms. Another thing that Ms. Hunt would like to change is that she would like to create a different central topic for the Lower and Intermediate Schools, perhaps something related to science.

“It’s easy as a teacher to walk in on somebody and say, ‘Oh, you’re doing that wrong; do this, this and this,’ without realizing it’s more complex than that.”

In 2021, Parker is going to extend the Junior Kindergarten and Senior Kindergarten programs to a full day, like the rest of the school (until 3:10 pm). Ms. Hunt prefers that the Junior Kindergarten and Senior Kindergarten classes stay for a half day, because although they are learning the alphabet, spelling, and reading, most of their day is play time. However, she thinks that the Junior and Senior Kindergarteners will get used to the adjustment quickly. Ms. Hunt told us that since the days will be extended to a full day, after school programs for that age group will probably be extended until 4:00 pm or 4:30 pm. Regarding class size, Ms. Hunt told us, “I like having small classes--specifically eighteen to nineteen kids. If the class gets too small, then there would not be as many ideas to share.” She said that there were twenty-five kids in each fifth grade class when she started teaching in the fifth grade. She liked having twenty-five kids in a class, but believes that eighteen to nineteen could be a better number of students to work with.

Ms. Hunt grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She says it was much more isolated then, meaning no one went to neighborhoods other than their own, and that most people only saw the same people in the same neighborhood every day. She attended Hibbard School in Albany Park. Ms. Hunt says that the desks and chairs were nailed into the ground so no one could move them. She also says that at her school, the kids started school according to their birthdays at different times of the year, whereas now in Chicago, everyone starts around late August and early September. When she was younger, Ms. Hunt wanted to be an opera singer. She used to sing, but after a little while working at Parker, she began to focus more on her teaching career instead.

“Progressive education to me means that you are thinking of individuals but you’re always thinking of individuals in relation to them as members of the community."

Ms. Hunt’s life outside of Parker is filled with many different activities. On weekdays, Ms. Hunt usually goes to bed at 12:00 am and wakes up at 6:00 am. On weekends and vacations, she usually goes to bed at 3:00 am and sleeps in. Ms. Hunt doesn’t only take care of herself at home. She has six grandchildren, two of whom live with her. One of her grandchildren, Ayden, is thirteen and goes to Peterson, a Chicago Public School. The other grandchild who lives with her is named Dylan, is sixteen, and is homeschooled. One of Ms. Hunt’s favorite activities to do in her free time is reading, and it always has been. She especially likes reading in her comfy chair. Ms. Hunt’s favorite food is mashed potatoes and has been her entire life. Her favorite color is blue, which is why she wears blue glasses. She started wearing glasses at age fifty-nine. Something that Ms. Hunt wishes for children is that they would play outside more instead of being on screens. For herself, she tries to save paper by using technology more. These are few of the activities Ms. Hunt enjoys.

Ms. Hunt used to substitute for other classes and she really enjoyed it. She started as a fifth grade teacher in the Intermediate School and began helping out with the curriculum as part of a committee on the side. Dr. Monroe, the principal at the time, asked Ms. Hunt to take a position as curriculum director as part of a three-year rotating position, but the position never rotated and Ms. Hunt found herself working full-time on the curriculum committee before going back to teaching fifth grade. She says, “We had a curriculum model for a couple years, but then it stopped for about four to five years,” she said. "A lot of people had missed it, so then that’s when my job was created. Not only for Lower School and Intermediate School, but also for the Middle School and High School. Before my job was created, there were teachers who were part actual teacher and then also part curriculum model.”

When Ms. Hunt began teaching at Parker, students fourth grade and under didn’t have homework. About ten years into her time here, that policy changed. Ms. Hunt didn’t like that fourth graders were now assigned homework because she doesn’t see the point in having homework in grades below fifth. Ms. Hunt says that her job is fun because everyone appreciates what she does and thanks her often for what she has done for the school.

“I like ... First Grade Reader’s Theater, because learning to read—that 'breaking the code' thing—is so exciting, and they are so proud to be reading in front of their parents and other people and an audience, and that’s just really exciting.”

Ms. Hunt has been a great teacher and curriculum director for the Parker community in her time at the school. Her spirit and personality made this interview a pleasant experience for everyone, and her expertise is what makes Parker such a great school to attend. We thank Ms. Hunt for taking the time to let us interview her and for extending our knowledge of what she does.