Sunburst Teacher Brings Enthusiasm to Potomac

POTOMAC - Raynee Clairmont is a new teacher at Potomac School. This school year she will teach seventh grade math and language arts, second through sixth grade music, physical education (PE) and art. She is from Sunburst, Mont.

Clairmont attended school in Sunburst. Her mother is a teacher there. "I have always loved helping her out [in the classroom] and hearing her stories," said Clairmont.

She attended the University of Montana where she graduated in 2016. "I started working with children when I was studying forestry," Clairmont said, "and enjoyed watching them learn and have fun so I decided to study elementary education as well."

At Potomac, Clairmont plans on using some of her forestry background with her seventh grade math class implementing some hands-on projects.

"I am also excited to be teaching PE, art, and music and am hoping to tie in activities from those areas into the core subjects like math and reading," Clairmont said.

Many of her PE ideas are inspired from four years working at summer camps, the students' interests and her love of sports.

For her music classes, she finds inspiration in the world. "I would like to focus on different music from around the world and how it inspires modern music," said Clairmont.

For her art classes she looks closer to home. Clairmont said she would like to look at various Montana artists as well as classical artists and use their artwork to inspire her students' work.

Clairmont said she is up to the challenge of teaching varied classes. She said, "It can be challenging to differentiate for a wide range of learners, especially at a small school where we have multi-aged classrooms." Clairmont is doing a lot of preparation to ensure she is reaching out to her students and recognizing their ability to learn while providing them with direction.

Clairmont looks forward to sharing excitement with her students when they are having fun and getting excited about something happening in class.  

"I love when students are working together on something challenging and are able to communicate and work as a team to solve problems," she said.

Clairmont said she loves finding out what students' interests are and what motivates them. "I love getting to know each student as an individual," said Clairmont.

New to this area of Montana, Clairmont said she looks forward to community involvement in Potomac and likes being part of community events.

Clairmont lives in Missoula with her husband Eric and her cat Elmer. Outside of school she enjoys outdoor activities. "I love to do anything outside; skiing, hiking, and floating are some of my favorites. I also love reading, crocheting and watching movies when the weather isn't nice," she said.