Catching Up With Lynn Easton: Former Hillbrook Teacher & Tireless Champion for Animals

The sky holds a magical place in the heart and mind of any student who had the good fortune of being in Lynn Easton’s first grade class during her 25 years at Hillbrook. Six and seven year old students in Easton’s classes could wax on about the waxing and waning moon, life on the space station, and how the sun is a glowing star of hot gas. Heady stuff for first grade, but par for the course in Ms. Easton’s class where many mornings began with a live-stream from the International Space Station playing in the classroom so children could follow the lives of the astronauts and see footage of outer space before starting their morning meeting.

Easton, who retired from teaching in 2014, is beloved by former students and their families who believe she hung the moon. Her classroom is remembered as a place of wonder and joy, where Ms. Easton had a way of making every child feel like her favorite. Hillbrook parent Kiran Khanna says, “Ms. Easton loved and nurtured every child that crossed her path and really understood them.” Elizabeth Patterson says her son, Flynn (now in 7th grade) still remembers how Ms. Easton connected with him and made school fun.

Easton may be retired from teaching, but she is busy as ever with a variety of projects including freelance writing and working with corporations to improve customer experiences. Her passion, however, is advocating on behalf of animals. Easton volunteers with non-profits like PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to end animal cruelty. Two current campaigns include SB1249, which calls for cruelty free cosmetics, and Proposition 12, which would ban farms from housing animals in cramped cages. “I want to speak up for those who don’t have a voice” says Easton; “it’s wrong to think that animals don’t feel pain because we know that they do, and they deserve more humane treatment from us.” Easton shares her home with 4 cats and a couple of strays who find safe haven in her yard. That’s where we caught up with one of Hillbrook’s favorite teachers:

Your classes covered such a variety of subjects for 1st grade, from astronomy to poetry, civics, government, famous authors, geology and so much more. How did such seemingly advanced topics end up in 1st grade?

Children are natural learners and they are naturally curious about the world. Of course, they need to know how to read and decode words and they need to understand mathematics and we did all of that, but I also understood that kids are eager to know how things work. I wanted to increase their knowledge about the world in developmentally-appropriate ways instead of merely practicing workbook skills. We would follow the path of children’s curiosity. For instance, an observation about a political sign posted in a front yard on Marchmont once led to an exploration of elections. Students wanted to know about the signs and what they meant? So we looked into it. They were so interested in the idea of elections that we began to explore how government works. Who is in charge? Who makes the rules? Who pays firemen to put out a fire? Who changes the bulbs in street lights? We acted out how decisions get made in cities. I sold crayons with play money in our classroom and charged sales tax to pay for firefighters and the like. We even took a law in our classroom all the way to our mock Supreme Court. Students got to be lawyers and justices (wearing Easton’s daughter’s graduation robes) and they loved it.

Parents may have seen you as soft spoken, but you were very playful with your classes.

Yes, I loved that. Children are very open to imaginative play. They want to suspend disbelief and immerse themselves in a world of creativity. I loved to dress up as different characters, perhaps like an author we were studying, such as Eric Carle or Beatrix Potter. It helped children absorb the information. Occasionally, my alter ego, the grouchy “Ms. Weston” would visit the class surprising and delighting the kids because she was the opposite of me. They knew it was me in a costume, but they wanted to visit with Ms. Weston anyway, suspending their disbelief for the fun of it. Adults don’t do enough of that.

What about your famous dance parties?

Oh, I loved those. I had a policy that at almost any point, a student could call out, “Dance Party” and we’d take a break, and get up and dance to Michael Jackson or other upbeat music. The dance breaks were so fun, and really helped children to let off a little steam and refocus on learning. Sometimes they’d be working so quietly and diligently on projects, I would look around the room just hoping someone would yell, “Dance Party!”

You also had various cheers you’d lead with the class. Flynn P., (now in 7th grade) still remembers those.

Yes, they were funny. We’d use the cheers instead of applause after sharing and students could choose their cheer. For instance, if they chose the “Elvis” cheer, we’d all stand up and in our best Elvis voice say, “Well, ah, thank you, thank you very much”. We also had a cowboy cheer which involved a yee-haw and a mock lasso, and a disco cheer where we danced like John Travolta. Very silly and very fun.

How did you manage to make each child feel so special?

Well, they were all special to me. I think the key is taking the time to really listen to children and give them your full attention. I always greeted each child individually and tried to observe how they were feeling and respond to it. Each week, I also set aside time when students could come have individual talks with me if they wanted. I also had a policy where once a month a student could have lunch with me if they wanted. We’d talk about whatever they wanted to, but that one-on-one time helped me to really know each of them. Occasionally, if a child was struggling on the playground or in group activities, I’d become their recess buddy for the week. We’d play together and work on communication skills or figuring out how to play fair. It made a huge difference because that piece doesn’t come easy for everyone.

Any special memories for you?

I love rocks and feathers and my students know this. I always had books in my classroom where we could identify the feathers and rocks we found on the Hillbrook campus. I’ll never forget the time I came to school and students had left a bucket of feathers at my classroom door with one feather stuck in the key hole. It was magical. They had worked together collecting the feathers at home, on the playground, by the creek, etc., and presented them to me as a gift. I just loved it. It was so kind.

What advice do you have for parents today?

Be patient. Be empathetic. Take a long view of education and recognize that childhood isn’t a race to achievement. I used to remind parents that after first grade, students still had at least 11 more years of intense study. So relax. Develop curiosity in your child and the rest will follow. Dance Party!