Hometown teacher Heather Miragliotta makes her Yorkville fourth graders accountable

Heather Miragliotta lives and breathes Yorkville. She’s the hometown girl who grew up in the community and as a woman has made it her own, with a special role to play.

Miragliotta is a fourth grade teacher at Yorkville Intermediate School, where she stresses accountability and open communication as she shapes the minds of Yorkville’s next generation.

“Yorkville is very near and dear to my heart,” Miragliotta said. “I have a vested interest in Yorkville and am proud to be a teacher in the district.”

Miragliotta herself is a product of Yorkville School District 115, starting at Circle Center Grade School and finishing with her graduation from Yorkville High School in 1986.

“I couldn’t imagine teaching anywhere else as this community means so much to me,” Miragliotta said.

At Yorkville Intermediate School, Miragliotta runs a high-energy classroom, with students expected to be ready to answer questions and participate in discussions. Reading and writing assignments are made abundantly clear.

“I make my kids really accountable,” Miragliotta said. “They know what is expected of them up front. I have very high expectations.”

Fourth graders are 9- and 10-years-old and that seems to be the sweet spot for Miragliotta.

“They are independent, but not too independent,” Miragliotta said, smiling.

At the start of the school year, the students tend to be shy and quiet.

“It’s great to watch them just bloom” over the course of the school year, Miragliotta said.

“I couldn’t imagine teaching anywhere else as this community means so much to me.”

—  Heather Miragliotta, Yorkville Intermediate School, fourth grade teacher

Open and direct communication with students is the key.

“They need to see that their teacher is human,” Miragliotta said. “I have to keep communications open. I can’t fix anything if the student doesn’t tell me about it.”

When Miragliotta graduated from Illinois State University with a degree in elementary education in 1990, the job market for teaching positions was poor, so she started work as a financial aid counselor at College of DuPage.

“It was frustrating, but I wasn’t going to give up,” Miragliotta said.

Perseverance and patience paid off in 1994, when Miragliotta landed her first teaching job. She found herself right back where she started her own education, at Circle Center, teaching fourth-graders.

“I started my teaching career in Yorkville and never looked back,” Miragliotta said. “I’ve never wanted to go anywhere else.”

Miragliotta took some time off in the early 2000s to start a family, but returned to teaching before the end of the decade.

This past academic year, Miragliotta has been teaching a class of 31 students at the intermediate school, a center for fourth through sixth grade students.

“They are very receptive to learning,” Miragliotta said.

With Miragliotta’s passion for the Yorkville community and for education, an important question poses itself. “How can we pull the community and the schools together and afford us more options for kids?”

One answer is the Youth Inspirators Supporting Others, an after-school program spearheaded by Miragliotta.

Students in grades four through six get the opportunity to reach out to retirement homes, food pantries and local police.

“We have a wonderful relationship with the Yorkville Police Department,” Miragliotta said.

Miragliotta played softball when she was a student at Yorkville High School and now coaches basketball for intramural squads of fifth and sixth grade girls at the intermediate school.

Whether in the classroom or on the basketball court, Miragliotta said her mission with her students is the same. “How can I help you in any facet of your life? I really care about these kids and want to be there for them.”