Mother and Twin Daughters Teach at Moscow School
Natalia Viktorovna has taught several generations of pupils at School No. 1579 in Moscow.
Three primary school teachers work at School No. 1579, and they all share the same last name. It is a true school dynasty: two daughters followed in their mother’s footsteps and returned to their school as teachers. The mother — Natalia Viktorovna — has taught at the same school for 30 years, and in that time she has raised not only several generations of children but also two teachers. Her twin daughters studied in the same class, graduated from the same university and came back to work at the same school.
How a Moscow teaching dynasty lives and how genetic inheritance works — Natalia Viktorovna and her daughters, Elizaveta and Anna, told MSK1.RU.
«Some students I taught have already brought their own children to my class»
Asked how she chose her profession, the teacher started from the very beginning:
«As a child I always liked playing school with the kids in the yard, getting them involved in interesting activities, making gradebooks, giving marks, learning something new and interesting together with friends. Why primary school? Because little ones are always more engaging. They come from kindergarten and don’t know or can’t do very much yet, and I really like giving them new knowledge and watching them grow and change», the teacher shared.
This year Natalia Viktorovna is graduating a fourth-grade class. She has worked at the school for 30 years, but she remembers each of her cohorts. She still keeps in touch with some of the kids: they exchange messages and even talk by phone.
«Some children who studied with me have already brought their own children to my school, and that too is part of life. When I graduate children from fourth grade, they come back in fifth and sixth. Then adolescence begins, when they don’t seem to come — perhaps they feel it’s somehow awkward. But there are children with whom I maintain relationships; I’m also friends with the parents of my former students, and that’s part of my life as well».
School No. 1579 has become home to a multigenerational teaching tradition in Moscow.
Natalia Viktorovna has worked at School No. 1579 for 30 years. Even when she had to move to a more distant neighborhood, she did not look for another job:
«When you graduate one class, you understand that someone may come to you in another cohort. I felt responsible for those who needed to be taught further. People would come to me and say: “We would really like to study with you.” And so, year after year, class after class, it turned out that there are children who, together with their parents, came and told me they wanted to be in my class, which is very pleasant. That’s why I try to give myself as much as possible to my work, to the children, and to ensuring they become good people».
The teaching family works together at School No. 1579 in Moscow.
«First I’ll win their hearts, then I’ll teach»
As teachers get older, it often becomes difficult to manage an entire class of children who have just left kindergarten. Natalia Viktorovna has her own approach in such cases.
«They need to be seated, they need to be taught. Now, with age, I act more like a mother, probably. First I try to explain to the children that I’m a good teacher. I always say that first I’ll make them fall in love with me, and then I’ll teach. So first we try to find common ground with the children, learn the first rules, learn how to study — and then it all goes by itself. In fact, I love first grade most of all, because they come in little, knowing nothing, unable to do anything — a real handful. Then, by about the second month, when they understand that they’re schoolchildren and not just kindergarten kids anymore, that’s when the learning begins».
To bring the class together, Natalia Viktorovna devises different activities and shared traditions. For example, in the class she is graduating now, there is a tradition of giving the teacher a beautiful balloon on 1 September (Knowledge Day).
«In first grade, not only does the children’s collective take shape, but so does the parent collective, which is no less important, because parent and child together with the teacher — that’s strength. By fourth grade, everyone knows that the kids playing in the schoolyard are from Natalia Viktorovna’s class. Because they already understand how to play, how to be friends».
Natalia Viktorovna’s current class maintains shared traditions that help build a strong community.
Over her 30 years of experience, Natalia Viktorovna has taught several generations of children. She believes today’s children are no worse than those who studied 10 or 20 years ago.
«You could say children now are more active. But to claim they’re less diligent — no. They have more information in their heads, so they can even be more interesting, because they’re more technically developed. But they don’t really like to read books; earlier, children read more».
«A mother should be a mother, and a teacher should be a teacher»
Natalia Viktorovna has twin daughters: Liza and Anya. Once, they studied at the same school where their mother taught. After finishing Grade 11, both decided to apply to a pedagogical institute. After graduating, they returned to their school, but now as teachers — as Elizaveta Alekseevna and Anna Alekseevna. Both became primary school teachers, just like their mother.
When the girls entered Grade 1, Natalia Viktorovna did not take them into her class, because she considers it important to separate the roles of teacher and mother.
«It seems to me that a mother should be a mother, and a teacher should be a teacher. So combining these two professions, these two responsibilities within yourself, in my view, isn’t necessary. I should, in any case, remain a mother. And a mother’s advice should always be more to the point for her own children. As for schooling — let others teach».
Despite her profession, Natalia Viktorovna was not overly strict with her daughters during their school years. The only thing — she always demanded neatly done homework. If something was written sloppily, she pasted over the page and made them rewrite it.
The teacher admits her work is far from easy. In addition to immense dedication, a teacher must check notebooks, fill out documentation, and organize children’s participation in contests and excursions. But despite everything, Natalia Viktorovna did not try to dissuade her daughters from going into teaching. In her words, it was entirely their decision.
«I smile when I remember the teachers who are now my colleagues»
When Elizaveta and Anna started working at the school, Natalia Viktorovna became not only their mother but also their mentor. Sometimes the young women ask her for advice or, conversely, may argue a little.
«If we have a disagreement, we naturally try to find some point of understanding — how to do things most accurately, most correctly. For example, we discussed the transition from handwriting copybooks to regular notebooks, writing certain elements, sample models, the frequency of checking notebooks. I reminded the girls that they need to collect notebooks daily, check them, and write model samples while doing work on mistakes».
Sometimes Natalia Viktorovna sits down with Anna and Elizaveta to check notebooks together.
«I try to do my own work myself. But sometimes there’s a need to help, and of course we help each other with advice and with deeds. We can cover for one another here and there».
Elizaveta and Anna are 27. They are alike not only in appearance but also in their life path. They entered the same school together, graduated together, entered a pedagogical institute together, and then came to work together as primary school teachers. Like their mother, Liza and Anya liked to play school as children. Already as schoolgirls, they always took part in Student Self-Government Day — leading lessons for the lower grades.
Elizaveta Alekseevna teaches the lower grades alongside her twin sister at their alma mater.
According to Elizaveta Alekseevna, she chose the teaching profession back in childhood. So after graduation, choosing a university came very easily. She always loved her school and earned 4s and 5s. While still at university, she and her sister came here for teaching practice.
«I smile when I remember the teachers who are already my colleagues. I remember everything with a smile — my entire school life, from first through eleventh grade», Elizaveta said.
She was very happy to return to a new yet already familiar school team as a teacher. All her colleagues treated her warmly:
«Everyone has known us since childhood, since about five years old, I’d say, because mom worked at the school, and we would come with her from kindergarten. And now everyone treats us well, helps; if advice is needed — they’ll give it. And there was support. A lot of support. I no longer remember how I once took charge of my first Grade 1 class, but now we’re all on equal footing».
«We never competed with each other»
Because both sisters started working at the school almost at the same time, at first the children mixed them up, Elizaveta admits:
«It often happens that they confuse us. But, as a rule, children get used to it. They find the differences. Even first-graders already know exactly who is who».
Anna Alekseevna, Elizaveta’s sister, said that despite their very similar life paths, there was never any competition between them:
Anna Alekseevna leads a primary class and collaborates closely with her mother and sister.
«There was never such a thing as ‘you’re the best’ or “no, I have to be better.” We never competed with each other — neither at school nor in the extracurricular clubs we attended».
Their father works as a system administrator. In a family of teachers, it isn’t easy for him.
«We try not to talk about school 24 hours a day, because dad isn’t part of school life — he has a different profession. Listening to three people in the apartment who talk only about that is quite hard. So we try to talk about school until 8 p.m., at least, and then switch to more general topics», Anna said.
