2nd Grade Teacher: Kate

Today I have Kate from Edukateandshine! She is a teacher in Canada that has a super fun Instagram that not only shows a glimpse into her personal life, but also all types of fun teacher things she uses with her students. Kate has moved around in the primary teacher world which gives her worlds of experience in teaching to share with all of you. Here is Kate’s interview:

1. What did you want to be when you were growing up?

For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a teacher. Cliche, I know! I was the “bossy” kid in my family. I loved being in charge of what games we were playing and making sure that everyone was following the rules. As a kid, in elementary school, I always admired my teachers. I knew that one day, I wanted to be just like them. As the years went on I loved volunteering in past teachers' classes, being the ‘lunch monitor’... basically anything that had to do with little kids, I loved it! The older I got, the more I thought about being a teacher. I went on to be a swimming instructor in high school, and this was just the affirmation that I needed to validate that teaching was definitely what I wanted to do. 

2. Is there a moment that sticks out to you that you remember from school with a teacher you had growing up?

Luckily, I had a great school experience. I remember all of my teachers being very kind and impactful. I was a shy child and had a lot of anxiety about going to school each day, there would usually be lots of tears! But once I was there, my teachers made me feel comfortable and I loved every second of it. A moment that sticks out for me was when I was in Kindergarten. I really didn’t want my babysitter to leave me, I was in full meltdown mode. I remember my teacher walking over to me, getting down on my level, taking my hand and telling me that we were going to have a great day. I resisted hard, but she calmed me down and took me into our classroom art table. That day she taught me how to draw a fish and I have loved drawing ever since. I will always remember this moment. Looking back at this memory helped me when I was teaching Kindergarten a few years ago and had a kiddo who had a meltdown every morning when his mom left. At first, I was annoyed and then I remembered that I used to be the same way. I used the same techniques that my Kindergarten teacher used many years ago and eventually my students morning meltdowns happened less and less. 

3. How long have you been teaching, what do you teach, where do you teach, and what did it take for you to get there?

My teaching career has been quite a journey! I graduated Teachers College in June 2012, when teaching jobs were far and few between in Ontario (Canada). I had just met the love of my life, so teaching abroad was not something I was interested in. I got hired as an Educational Assistant in my district and was super happy about getting to start my career in the classroom. I did this for two years and then got hired to be a substitute teacher in another district. This was my dream come true, I was finally going to be a teacher! I had some personal bumps on the road over the next few years, so I continued to substitute teach and had a few short teaching contracts. In 2018 I got hired by my dream district, the one I had been applying to since I graduated from teachers college. I was over the moon! Since then I have taught first and second grade and loved every minute of it. I am currently in the process of applying to teaching jobs for September and I’m hoping to stay in the Primary Division (k-3). It has been a long road to get to where I am today, but I’m so happy that I’m here and doing what I love. 

4. What is your go-to tool you use in the classroom and why?

I feel like this is forever changing depending on what grade I’m teaching and the group of kiddos. This year my go-to tool was Class Dojo. I used Class Dojo to help build our classroom community. It was a great way to stay connected with parents throughout the year. I loved sharing photos and videos of some of our wonderful classroom moments to our ‘Class Story’. It was kind of like our class’s own instagram page - my kiddos loved being able to go home and show their parents what we did at school. I also used Class Dojo to create a positive culture. I gave points out to encourage specific skills and values. For example, students could earn points for being a “kind friend”, or a “terrific tidier”. I loved this part of the app because you can customize what students are earning points for. At the end of every week, students could trade in their points for a prize. I found that this was a great way to motivate my kiddos to be kind and helpful members of our classroom. Class Dojo introduced a new feature this year that focused on teaching kids about “Big Ideas” such as, growth mindset, positive thinking, mindfulness and more.  I loved how I could easily use their videos and activities to teach my kiddos about these important skills. I will definitely be using Class Dojo again this year, even if we are doing Distance Learning. I would highly recommend trying out Class Dojo if you haven’t already!

5. Is there anything you do to accommodate your students and how often do you find yourself using that accommodation?

Yes, accommodations are key in Public School. Every child learns at their own pace, in their own way. It is so important to get to know your kiddos and what teaching style works for them. With that being said, I use accommodations everyday in my classroom. The main accommodation that I use is a visual schedule, some of my kiddos have their own visual schedules to check-in with and I also use a large visual schedule for the whole class to follow along. I find that using a visual schedule helps students know what the plan is for the day, they love being able to see what we have coming up next. Another accommodation that I use is daily breaks. I had a handful of students in my class this year that had difficulty staying on task, or difficulty with transitions. My problem solver for this was allowing them to go on short, frequent breaks. Sometimes, we would take a body break as a class and do ABC Yoga, or a Go-Noodle. Or, if the student needed an immediate break, they had the option of using one of their independent break cards. They could go for a walk, ride a stationary bike in the hallway, or complete the ‘circuit’ with an Educational Assistant. There are a handful of other accommodations that I use on a daily basis such as hand signals, visual aids, technology and behaviour contracts.

6. I love your instagram because your smile is seriously contagious, what made you want to start a teacher gram?

That is so kind of you! I’m glad my smile can make you smile. I started my Instagram page because I wanted to document my own teaching journey. I love being able to look back at all of the memories made throughout the year. Before starting EdukateAndShine, I had all of my pictures and ideas save on my Google Drive. This is definitely not the best way to look back on your memories! Starting my own page was definitely out of my comfort zone, but I’m so glad I did it. At first, I barely posted. I don’t know how so many insta teachers are able to be so active during the school year. I really didn’t post much until we were quarantined, but ever since I’ve been more active, I love it. The instagram teacher community is such an amazing group to be part of. I love being able to see ideas from teachers around the world. I love getting inspired by an idea, or sharing an idea that could inspire another teacher. 

7. Any advice for a new student teacher?

Get to know your class - Every group of kiddos is different. My best piece of advice is to get to know your class as a whole and each child individually. This will really help set you up for success. When you get to know your students as learners, you will understand their strengths, weaknesses, and interests which will help them to be successful academically. It is also important to get to know your students as people. This is key so that you can help them when they are upset, or having a difficult time with friends. Lastly, spend time getting to know your class as a group. Who works well together, who doesn’t? This will really help you in the long run because you can slowly start to build a strong classroom community where everyone feels safe, loved and respected. 

Don’t be afraid to ask for help - When I first started my teaching career, I was afraid to ask for help. I felt like I needed to know everything and I was embarrassed to ask another teacher for help with something. Over the years I have come to learn that asking for help is one of the best things you can do. I have learned so much from other teachers. Whether I am talking to a seasoned teacher or a newbie, we all have so much to offer each other. That’s one of the best parts of being a teacher, we have such a big community and for the most part, we love to help one another. Not sure what to do for the 100th day of school? Ask your teaching partner/team to get together for a brainstorm session. It is so much fun to collaborate with other teachers. Never be afraid to ask for help!

Don’t compare yourself to other teachers - This is something that I try and tell myself all the time. I would love to just snap my fingers and have the Pinterest classroom of my dreams, but the reality is, that it takes time. I have had my own classroom for two years and I have a lot of great things, but there are still a lot of things I want to add to my classroom (decor, books, resources). These ‘things’ cost money and on a teacher budget, we usually can’t afford to get it all at once. Take your time, and give yourself grace. Use instagram and Pinterest to inspire you, don’t let these tools make you feel like your classroom has to be ‘perfect’. Decide what is most important for you and spend your time/money focusing on that. 

Keep a journal - This is something I wish I had done sooner. This year for Christmas one of my lovely coworkers gave me a teacher journal. I just loved this idea. Every time something special or memorable happened, I tried to write it down. This is something really cool that you can look back at and cherish for years. 

8. How has it been teaching virtually?

Teaching virtually was a huge adjustment for me. I am far from a “techie” teacher, but I learned quickly and had support from my teaching team and lovely instagram teacher community. This year I had a second grade class and we used many amazing apps on the iPad for literacy and numeracy, but my kiddos had never before used Google Classroom. This was a huge learning curve for them and me. After the first couple of weeks, I think we adjusted pretty well to this new style of teaching/learning. I found that flex-time teaching seemed to work best for my students. I would pre-record myself teaching a lesson so that my students could access them whenever they were available. I would usually do this at the beginning of the week and upload them daily. This really helped keep me organized.  I loved using Google Slides, Jamboard, and Padlet to create engaging activities for my students to complete throughout the week. One of my favorite parts of our distance learning routine was our weekly Google Meets. I loved that we were still able to foster our classroom community and continue to build relationships while learning from separate homes. This was really important to me! 

9. A lot of people have been saying they hope things start to change in education since this Pandemic, do you think anything will change from it?

I definitely think that there will be a lot more online learning going forward. I’m hoping that we can have more guidelines and support for online learning. All teachers did an amazing job adjusting to distance learning, but no two classes really looked the same. After seeing what worked and what didn't work during the pandemic, I hope that teachers and governments can work together to make online learning more equitable for students, families and teachers. It is looking like online learning will definitely be part of the 2020/2021 school year, so here’s hoping we can all work together to make it successful.

10. Last but not least, where do you see yourself in ten years?

I LOVE being a teacher, it has been my dream job for as long as I can remember. So in ten years, I hope to be a permanent teacher in my current district and I would love to still be teaching the littles (K-2). My husband and I are hoping to start a family soon and if I had the opportunity, I would love to be a stay-at-home mom. At least, that’s what I am thinking right now. But, we never know what tomorrow will bring. I plan on teaching my heart out for as long as I can. 

Thanks so much Kate!

Happy Teaching :)