George Anne Derby

After four decades at ‘Iolani, kindergarten teacher George-Anne Derby has a class this year that includes the children of some of her former students.
   
This ageless educator, who coached the first girls soccer team at ‘Iolani nearly 30 years ago, has encouraged young minds for generations. In turn, the boys and girls inspire her.
   
In particular, Derby remembers one boy who entered kindergarten about 18 years ago with unusual challenges. He had been adopted from Asia and was behind his classmates in reading, writing and math. The concepts didn’t come easily to him.
   
Derby remembered the story of "The Hare and the Tortoise," one of the Aesop’s Fables her own parents read to her when she was a little girl, and shared the moral with her young learner.
   
“You may not make it as fast as someone else, but if you stick to the task, you’ll come out fine,” she reflects. “For little kids that’s so important. They can’t all expect to be the best, but if you stay steady, you’ll be okay.”
   
Derby told him not to give up and described the turtle as an example of an animal that, in spite of being slower than other animals, can finish the race. The lesson stuck. The boy made steady progress throughout the rest of the school year and caught up with the others.
   
At the end of the year, he presented Mrs. Derby with a small gift he selected himself to express his gratitude for believing and knowing that he would succeed as long as he was slow and steady. It was a small ceramic turtle.
   
To this day, Derby keeps the turtle on her desk and shares the story with her classes over the years.
   
Derby was a young student at Punahou School when the world of Aesop’s Fables was introduced to her. Now, she retells her own students these important morals and messages. The children relate to the lives and challenges of animals, such as in "The Lion and the Mouse" (moral: One good turn deserves another.) or "The Frog and the Ox" (moral: Be true to your own character.).
   
“They all have these powerful ways of engaging children and teaching them lifelong lessons,” she says.

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