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February Teacher Spotlight

How long have you been a teacher? This is my third full year of teaching! However, while studying abroad, I taught Kindergarten in Ghana for five months which was a very eye-opening and humbling experience!At South Plaquemines Elementary School, I taught second grade for half a year, and third grade for 1.5 years, both self-contained all subjects. This is my first year as a fifth grade ELA teacher at Belle Chasse Middle School. Never in a million years would I have imagined that I’d teach middle school, but I LOVE it!

Why did you choose teaching? Well, from the time I was young I was always told I would be a good teacher. I am the oldest of five kids in my family, and in high school and college I taught swim lessons, ran summer camps, and babysat non-stop. I loved being around kids and felt like teaching was something I was really good at. However, I wanted to try something different in college. I studied Public Health, knowing that I would be able to make a positive impact on children in low-income communities through that field. As a child who grew up in a relatively affluent suburb of Chicago, I had always attended public schools, and I naïvely assumed that all schools were just like mine. During my freshman year of college, I decided to volunteer in New Orleans schools, and I witnessed so many teachers passionate for change in the education system that it inspired me to work alongside them to help close the equity gap.

What piece of advice would you give to new teachers? This is going to sound cliché, but I would say to make sure you think about what is important to you and set boundaries from the beginning. I had always been told that teaching would take up so much time, so my first year, I let it rule my life. I wasn’t working out like I used to, I didn’t see friends very often, and I stopped going to church and attending small groups, which were all things that were important to me. Not only was this impacting my life in a negative way, but it was also impacting my students. I would come in each day exhausted from staying late at school and going home to continue looking at a lesson for the fifth time or thinking about how a lesson that day hadn’t gone as planned. I didn’t realize how unhealthy it was until halfway through last year (December 2019), and by that point, I had become known as the teacher who came early, stayed late, and took phone calls at 9pm. It was so hard to suddenly try and draw that line, but I recognized how necessary it was. Starting at a new school this year, I decided to establish boundaries from the start. My primary focus is to have everything ready on Friday for the entire next week, so I am not scrambling last minute. I still take work home about once a week, but through setting boundaries and expectations, I am more productive at school, and I am so much healthier and happier as a result!

What’s a funny or inspiring anecdote you have from teaching? My youngest brother has always been in the same grade as the grade that I’ve taught that year (crazy how that works out!), so my first year of teaching, he came to visit my school with my mom and he taught my students how to play four corners. They asked me to play at least once a week for the next 1.5 years! It became a classic!

What are you reading right now? The Light in Hidden Places by Sharon Cameron (historical fiction), Forgiving What You Can’t Forget by Lysa TerKeurst (non-fiction), and The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery (non-fiction). I love to read every night before bed, and I’m always reading a couple of books at once!

How do you think your students would describe you? Storyteller- I am always trying to find ways for my students to relate to the information we are learning, so I tell them stories about traveling, my teaching internship in Ghana, West Africa, playing sports when I was a kid… all different stories that relate to what they are learning so they can have a connection and they LOVE it! Due to COVID, we are eating lunch in our classroom this year, and rather than watch movies, they ask me for stories and photos.

What are your hobbies? I love to stay active, so most afternoons you’ll find me doing either CrossFit, tennis, or running. I also love playing with my dog, traveling, and eating good food with friends!

Who inspires you? Other than my students who inspire me every day, student teachers!! I had a student teacher last year and her excitement, positive attitude, and creative ideas really inspired me not only to be my best, but to think about what was really important for the kids.

Do you have any website or social media recommendations? I love following fairchildin5th (great 5^th grade ideas) and alattelearning (great 1^st and 5^th grade content) on Instagram. My favorite part about both of them is that they keep it real with teaching, teaching during COVID, etc.

Favorite food? I always love a good Vietnamese or Thai dish, but I also have a soft spot for a good pizza. My favorite dessert is fudgy brownies, and my students know it– they definitely made me some for my birthday.

Favorite word? Growth- We’re all human, so we are all flawed. There is always room for improvement in all areas of life (work, personal, faith, relationships), so it’s important to remember that there are always improvements that can be made but also important to celebrate how far we all have come. Growth is a way for me to both reflect and set goals for the future.

Advice for teaching during these times? Every week, we have something called “positive sign Thursday.” As students walk down the hall in the morning, we all wait by our doors to take pictures with them, and they love it! It is such a great way to set a positive, happy tone to the day! They look forward to it all week, and we have created a “Thursday Wall” in the back of the classroom where students have taped up pictures from the entire year. This has been a great way for us to continue to build positive relationships at school during a difficult time.

How would you describe your vibe going into 2021 teaching? Hopeful! The first four months at my new school have been so great, and everyone has been so welcoming and positive despite everything going on in the world, that I am just optimistic that school will just continue to get more consistent as vaccinations roll out and hopefully COVID numbers start to drop!

Anything else you’d like to share? Enjoy the kids! Find time each day to just love them, check in with them, and enjoy being present with them, and it will make each day so much better.