In her father’s footsteps

Laura Norman is happily following in her father Ted Bertrand’s footsteps.
The father-daughter duo have worked to bring understanding of the rich culture that exists in Evangeline Parish to high school students for a combined 31 years as French educators across Evangeline’s school district.
Bertrand said, “I’m really of the last generation of French speakers in the home. My grandmother lived with us since I was a child because my grandfather had passed away, and all she spoke was French, so we spoke in French so that she could be a part of the conversations. Because of that I learned both English and French and really fell in love with languages.”
The 58-year-old Ville Platte High graduate took his love for languages that he developed as a child and turned it into a 28-year career in education that he isn’t planning on leaving just yet.
Bertrand, who graduated college from Louisiana College, today works as the home-bound teacher in Evangeline Parish, and services mostly students from VPHS and Mamou High School.
“A couple of years ago, I reached a point in my career where I was just ready for a change,” said Bertrand. “So, when Mr. Jerry Fontenot retired as the home-bound teacher I applied for the position and got the job.”
Before he became the parish’s home-bound teacher, Bertrand taught both English and French at Chataignier High, Vidrine High, and MHS, and according to Bertrand, his 25 years in the classroom have been “very rewarding.”
Bertrand said, “It’s such a good feeling when you see your students accomplish things, especially if its something they struggled with. And its nice when they come back to visit you after they have graduated, because then you know that you really built a relationship with that student.”
The change in Bertrand’s career came at the perfect time, because there was another lover of Evangeline Parish’s French culture ready to step in and fill his shoes as MHS’s French 1 and French 2 teacher, and that was his daughter, who graduated from MHS in 2008.
Norman, who is now working towards earning her Doctorate in Education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, answered her call to be a teacher after going through two years of college at Louisiana College.
The 26-year-old said, “I was originally a nursing major, and right before clinicals I took French 101, and fell in love with it. I said, ‘Nope, this is what I need to be doing to keep the culture and language alive here, because for me and my friends, we didn’t speak French.’”
Following in her dad’s footsteps may have come as a surprise to Norman, but it didn’t surprise her parents at all.
“As a kid, Laura would always get all of her stuffed animals and line them up and act like she was teaching them,” said Bertrand. “Her mother and I knew she was bound to be a teacher, but she said she wanted to go into nursing.”
Norman then added, “I called my parents one day and said ‘I just left the registrars office,’ and my dad was like ‘How much money do you need?’ I told them ‘none, but I changed my major to secondary education.’” Laughing she added, “My parents said, ‘Well, it’s about time.’”
Norman graduated from Louisiana College, and went straight to work at MHS teaching sixth and seventh grade, before moving to eighth grade. When her dad’s position came open, Norman was immediately asked to take over the French 1 and 2 classes, and she couldn’t say no.
Taking over her dad’s position meant also taking over the extracurricular activities that her dad was in charge of such as Education First (EF) and Fellowship of Christian Students (FCS).
“My dad use to bring groups of students out of the country with EF, and this past summer I got to bring my first group which was cool,” said Norman, who took her students to France this summer. “And, I am also now the sponsor for FCS, which me and my dad started at Mamou High when I was in high school.”
Being apart of the extracurricular activities, according to both Bertrand and Norman plays a crucial role in impacting the lives of their students.
Norman said, “No matter what your background is, as an educator if you show your students that you care by attending their games and being a part of activities outside of the classroom then you are more likely to impact your student’s lives. If you show them that you care, then they will care.”
As Norman prepares to enter into her fourth year as an educator, she said she has learned that, “Building good relationships with your students makes a difference in how well you are able to do the job. Like one day I was just tired and it was a difficult day, and during class one of my students told the class ‘Hey, Mrs. Laura is trying to go to school, and we need to be good so that she can graduate.’ Moments like that make you realize how important building those relationships are.”
While Norman is just beginning her career, her dad is nearing the end of his, but he isn’t quite ready for it to end.
Bertrand said, “When you are called to be an educator, you end up loving what you do. And for me, I can’t imagine doing anything else but teaching, because this is what I was meant to do.”
Although retirement is near for Bertrand, he already has plans to get back into the classroom.
Bertrand said, “I’ve had such a rewarding career, and it makes me not want to retire. I’m hoping that when I do retire, I’ll get to maybe teach French part-time at some of the high schools. I want people that are considering going into the field of education to know that if you are meant to do this, it won’t feel like a job because you will love what you do.”