The Deer Valley School District brought its students back to the classroom Monday, and for a pair of teachers, it's an especially exciting year for them.
There’s a saying: “Like mother, like daughter.” It can be seen within Judi and Tessa Williams.
“A big reason I went into teaching is because of my mom,” said Tessa Williams, whose fifth year of teaching started Monday.
At Anthem School this year, though, it’s extra special. Her mom, Judi, is teaching at the same school. It’s also not just at the same place — they’re just one classroom away from each other.
Tessa teaches fourth grade while Judi will teach third-grade students.
“It’s been a lot of, I prepare something, she sees me preparing it, so then she’s like ‘Oh, I have to do that,’” Tessa said sitting next to Judi.
Judi has returned back to the classroom for the first time in years. She tells ABC15 this is her 19th year in education and nearly a decade in elementary education classrooms. Judi says she ended up leaving the classroom to go work in the district to help recruit and retain teachers.
“There’s just so many things you need to do in a classroom, trying to help and I just thought I could do that, and I missed it and it made me miss it when I heard how much they missed it,” said Judi.
She also told ABC15 she went back to help during the teacher shortage crisis.
Tessa knew her mom would go back to teaching, but didn’t think it’d be in the same school, let alone down the same hall as her. Regardless, she’s grateful to have her mom by her side.
“I used to just call her when I had hard days and now I just go two doors down and see her,” Tessa said laughing.
The mom and daughter also share just about everything. Judi gave Tessa all her classroom supplies when she left teaching. And at home, well, their kitchen table has school supplies on it and conversations surrounding education, too.
“It's fun to be passionate about the same thing. My husband may not agree. There's a lot of teacher talk at our house,” Judi said, laughing.
While Judi gets back into the swing of being in the classroom, Tessa’s learned a lot from her mom growing up. Judi actually taught in Tessa’s school as she grew up in Deer Valley Unified School District, too.
“I really cherish this opportunity because I always learned from her and I’m still learning from her. I’ll get to be able to talk about this long in the future of being able to say I had the experience of working together and it's only our first year,” Tessa said.
Judi is also learning from her daughter.
“She’s helping with technology and new programs. Just some new things to the school district and that students are able to do...that they weren’t able to do several years ago,” said Judi.
Even on the first day of school, and before then, there were little mix-ups with the Williams family.
Tessa said a student, who was meant to be in her mom’s third-grade class, ended up going to her class. A family meant to be in Tessa’s class ended up buying the school supplies for Judi’s class. However, the two will stay as Ms. Williams and Mrs. Williams, respectively.
“It’ll be fun to watch each other and see what that’s like,” said Judi.
The two said they’re glad to be in a profession they love, with the people they love, knowing that they can rely on each other and help others, too.
“It's a gift I never thought I'd have in my lifetime and it just shows just what teaching can really be. When your daughter wants to do the same thing you do, it just shows the importance. You feel like you did a good job with your child and with other people's children,” added Judi.
