Teacher Appreciation Week: Janice Fee Supports Students in Fifth Grade and Beyond

BETHALTO - Janice Fee is preparing to retire, but her students aren’t getting rid of her just yet.

Fee, a fifth grade teacher at Meadowbrook Intermediate in the Bethalto Community Unit School District #8, joked that her students are “kind of stuck with [her]” even after they graduate from her classroom. She continues advocating for her kids and watching them grow through their high school career. This Teacher Appreciation Week, she’s reflecting on how much she has enjoyed her 33 years of teaching.

“I love their personalities!” Fee said of her students. “They become these little best friends that I love. I get to see them learn and grow up to be amazing adults.”

Fee still remembers the “amazing teachers” she had as a child, and this inspired her to go into education. She wanted to pay homage to those educators and be a positive influence on kids as they grow up.

Over the years, she has enjoyed watching her students mature into young adults. She makes a point to attend the high school’s graduation each year so she can watch her former students succeed. She also spends a lot of her free time at athletic events and extracurricular activities, cheering on her students whether they were in her classroom today or ten years ago.

Fee has a genuine passion for teaching and helping students become the best they can be. She does her best to make sure every student has the support they need to be successful.

“There are a lot of things I love about teaching!” Fee said. “I love connecting with kids, and I love trying to make learning fun. I want my kids to enjoy learning.”

When she’s not in her classroom or at school activities, Fee enjoys shopping and boating. She is looking forward to retirement, but it will be a little bittersweet to step away from teaching once and for all. Fee has loved her experience with her fifth graders over the decades, and she looks forward to seeing what all her students do next.

“I retire this year after my 33rd year of teaching, and I have had an amazing career teaching fifth grade all those years,” she added. “My students don’t stop being my students when they walk out my door on the last day of school. They are family. They are forever my students that I love unconditionally.”

Thank you to Janice Fee for your work as a teacher!

Print Version