At MacArthur Early Childhood Center, learning sometimes looks like cars with letters taped on their roofs or children climbing into a hammock of fabric to calm their nerves. For Brayden Davis, the school’s Response to Intervention (RTI) teacher, these small, tailored moments add up to something much larger: the foundation of a lifetime of learning.

Davis is starting his second full year in Macomb Schools after teaching in Bushnell, and while his career is still young, his purpose has always been clear. “I want to give kids a really strong foundation for the rest of their learning,” he explains. “If they don’t enjoy right now, they’re not going to enjoy most of the rest of school”. That conviction fuels his daily work with students who need extra support in mastering early literacy skills like letters and sounds.

RTI, short for “Response to Intervention,” sounds technical, but in practice it’s deeply personal. Davis meets individually or in small groups with students who may be falling behind, giving them both the instruction and confidence they need to succeed. “We just play some games, make it fun, but make sure they get that little bit of extra help,” he says. “Sometimes it’s just enough to help them make the level—or even exceed it”.

The setting matters. MacArthur’s sensory room, with its bubble walls, light tables, crash pads, and rocking chairs, is designed to provide students with a safe space to reset. For young children, even something as small as an uncomfortable shirt or a rock in their shoe can throw off a whole day. The sensory environment, Davis notes, “gives them a safe and productive way to let it all out”.

Relationships matter even more. Davis is often surprised by how quickly children warm up to him. “I don’t end up being in the room all the time,” he says, “but some of the more quiet kids get so excited to see me, just to play the games I bring. It’s really surprising sometimes”. That trust, he believes, is key to both learning and life. “Without trust, you really don’t have anything,” he adds.

Davis’s path to education began early. As a child fascinated by dinosaurs, he once imagined himself as a paleontologist. But growing up in Macomb, surrounded by younger cousins, he found himself drawn naturally toward teaching. By high school, he was volunteering with children and discovering he had a knack for working with them. He stayed close to home for his degree at Western Illinois University, building a career where he once grew up.

Teaching, for him, is also about modeling humanity. “There’ll be plenty of times I realize I forgot something I was supposed to bring or I’ll slip up and call a child by the wrong name,” he admits. “Getting to laugh at that with them shows it’s okay to be wrong sometimes. It’s comfortable to make mistakes”. That lesson, he hopes, is just as important as mastering letters and sounds.

Much of his approach comes down to meeting kids where they are. If a student is obsessed with cars, he’ll tape letters to toy cars and let them race across the alphabet. “Constant exposure is one of the greatest things for learning these letters,” he says. “Eventually it’s going to stick, whether they mean to or not”.

Though Davis doesn’t yet have children of his own, he recognizes how quickly time passes. One day, he knows, he’ll see his former students in town—at Walmart, at a restaurant, maybe walking across the stage at graduation—and feel proud of the role he played in their journey. “It’ll be so fulfilling,” he says. “Even if it feels a long way away now.”

For MacArthur’s students, the future may begin with a toy car, a letter, or a moment of reassurance in a sensory room. But with Brayden Davis guiding them, those beginnings become the strong foundations every child deserves.