Voices from the Classroom: Teachers need support — and the best often comes from other teachers
No matter your role in education, (teacher, coach, principal, assistant, etc.) your title doesn’t even scratch the surface of the many hats you wear. “Teacher,” for example, also implies that at any moment of any day you may need to take on the duties of a nurse, counselor, secretary, mediator, or copy machine technician . . . to name of few. Teaching is hard.
Teachers need support. But did you...
Voices from the Classroom: Walton-Verona Middle School tackles social-emotional learning with QRT
By Amy Clancy
Special to NKyTribune
Walton-Verona Middle School is a somewhat rural public school, grades 5-12 with about 1500 students in the building(s) overall. In middle school, we typically have over 500 students and at times our classes have been very large – over 30 students per classroom.
Walton has always maintained a family atmosphere – the way teachers and students interact...
Voices from the Classroom: “Mr. Steve” Meyers is everyone’s favorite person at Beechwood
By Amanda Klare
Beechwood Elementary
Teachers aren’t supposed to have favorites, but I do.
Each year I tell my students on the first day of class that I will love them all, but that my favorite person in the whole building is one of our school’s head custodians, Mr. Steve. Steve Meyers has been a part of the Beechwood family since 2009. As soon as he joined our staff, he took the time to get to...
Voices from the Classroom: Teachers always wonder what impact they’re having, trying to be “that one”
By Melissa Insko
Kenton County Future Teachers Academy
So many times we, as teachers, wonder what impact we’re really having. Does the time and effort we put in actually translate to a better world in any significant way? Now? Later? Are our students actually any “better” for having been guided by us during our 50 minutes together each day?
Like so many before and beside me, I had many...
Voices from the Classroom: Reflecting on a teacher’s role — I find meaning in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
By Chris Wright
Ludlow High School
Lately there has been a national debate regarding what roles our teachers ultimately play in our schools. It is difficult to turn on the television and not find a hot button issue regarding our schools being dissected from virtually all angles. One common theme that continually arises: What is the teacher’s role beyond that of a deliverer of the curriculum?
To...
Voices from the Classroom: Loving my students, lifting them up — and helping them respect each other
By Amanda Klare
Beechwood Elementary
Dear parents of my current and former students,
Let me start by thanking you for entrusting me with your most precious belonging: your child. Over the course of the school year, your child becomes one of my “kids.”
I love my students like I love my two daughters. I strive to be the type of teacher I would want for my own girls one day.
By contract, my main...
Voices from the Classroom: She was meant to be a teacher and she loves fostering student engagement
By Laural Huber
White’s Tower Elementary
I am one of the lucky ones who’s always known I was meant to be an educator. As
the daughter of a teacher, I thought it was completely normal to have a full-size chalkboard, mismatched desks, and a closet full of school supplies in our basement. When neighborhood friends came over, they just knew I got to be the teacher whenever we played school because...
Voices from the Classroom: A new teacher is empowered by idea (and practice) of ‘growth mindset’
By Rachel Goodnight
Lincoln Elementary School
“At the end of the day, the students should be the ones who are tired, not you.”
This fantastic piece of advice, given to me by my superintendent, is meant to say teachers should be facilitators of learning, but students should be the ones engaged and putting in the hard work during the lesson.
Truth be told, I go home exhausted every day.
As a new...
Voices from the Classroom: ‘I am exhausted and powerful. I love, am loved. I am a teacher and a mom’
By Rachael Fait
Beechwood Elementary School
I’m trudging up my basement steps with my unorganized and overflowing teacher bag along with my daughter’s backpack. My six-year-old son is moving up the steps at a snail’s pace while my three-year-old daughter decides her legs are tired and needs to be carried. It’s 4:45 and my goal is to unpack, finish homework, give the kids a snack, and do...
Voices from the Classroom: Teachers need inspiration too — top educator Ron Clark provided it
By Katie Chalfant
Newport Intermediate School
In 2008, I was attending a local university taking classes for my degree in Elementary Education. I recall hearing the name Ron Clark back then and even having one of his most well-known books, “The Essential 55” assigned as a required text in one of my courses. After years away from the education scene, more has changed than I could have ever imagined....
Voices from the Classroom: A peek into the amazing things students are doing with technology
By Amy Whelan
Ryland Heights Elementary School
As technology has become increasingly present in our everyday lives, it is also making its mark in education. To most, this isn’t news or some shocking statement, but I wonder, do you really know how your local school is using technology to teach our 21st century learners?
Please indulge me as I give you a peek into the amazing things my students...
Voices from the Classroom: Walton-Verona aims to reduce the ‘growth gap,’ help the whole family
By Amy Clancy
Special to NKyTribune
Growth Gap. Something everyone in Kentucky is concerned about. It doesn’t take a scientist to know that student test scores are influenced by so many factors.
Sadly, many of our students identified as at-risk fall into this “growth gap”. At risk students often face family discord and separation, and poverty is a major obstacle.
According to talkpoverty.org’s...
Voices from the Classroom: Why I like to be by my door to greet students, shake hands, welcome them
By Amanda Klare
Beechwood School
Several years ago, I was posted by my door like I am every morning to greet my students, and I shook the hand of each student to welcome them to their first day of fourth grade.
One student’s response is one that I will never forget. I reached out my hand and with a smile I said, “Hello, nice to meet you! I’m Mrs. Klare! You must be Riley!”
Without a smile...
Voices from the Classroom: From summer mode to teacher mode inspired by a scraggly weed
By Jennifer Henry
Dixie Heights High School
I admire the tenacity of weeds; their resilience and defenses are worthy traits.
I had this very thought when traveling on vacation a few weeks ago.
Flanked by corn fields and energy-harnessing windmills, the highway did not offer much visual stimulation. My family of six had exhausted the shelf-life of the alphabet game, so we retired to our own devices,...
Voices from the Classroom: ‘Specials’ are, well, special; it helps to have a good sense of humor too
By Ashley Kleisinger
Special to NKyTribune
Every year for the past three years, I forget how much I fear the day that IS having my first grade students practice my classroom early finisher stations.
A little background on my role and classroom would probably help you understand the unique position I currently hold at the very elementary school I attended myself.
I teach STEM Lab. It is one of their...
