Kiddom’s Post

Transcript

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week. I'm a boss Manji, cofounder and chief Academic officer at Kiddo. We believe in the power of teachers and and that's why Kim designs technology to unlock potential for all teachers and learners. That's our mission and that's why we're really excited to celebrate, affirm and honor you during Teacher Appreciation Week. They'll personally, I think teachers should be thanked every day for their service, kind of like Mother's Day. You know, you can make your mom feel really good every day with the right kind of mindset and communication. But anyway, as a former public school teacher myself, I know that. Um. You know, being a teacher is something you do, but it inevitably becomes a core part of who you are. It isn't the only thing that defines you, but it does have a have a major influence on the way you think, the way you interact with others, and the way you love. And so to celebrate you, the Kingdom team has a few fun things planned for the educators in our community, including some fun giveaways and spotlights. So be on the lookout for those. I wanted to take a moment to thank a very special teacher who made a tremendous impact in my life. That teacher is Mr. John Strauss, who is retired now, but he taught me at West Leyden High School in the Chicago Land area, and he was my high school. English AP teacher. It wasn't a young highly motivated self-proclaimed potshot. You know, this guy was. He was the Real McCoy. He was already a veteran teacher, humble and honest. He had a he had a sense of humor and he was deeply committed. But most importantly that guy had passion and you know I was like a self-proclaimed math kid in in in school. It was until it was and I was a math could until I took his class, his teaching. File in In this sincere desire to to see us all succeed, Change me forever, he would. He would reenact various scenes from literature in front of class. He helped us all connect individually to the text that we were reading. We barely spent any time for test prep for the AP exam, but yet we all did well. We just spent a lot of time engaging in Discourse, and now, you know, come full circle. I now have the privilege of working at Kingdom, where we're bringing Discourse. They've been curriculum to school districts, so thank you Mr. Strauss. I I sincerely appreciate you. And as a former educator here at Kingdom, I wanted to celebrate Mr. Bradley for showing me the importance of teaching with passion. It was impossible not to be excited in his science classes, so thank you, Mr. Bradley, for showing me how important it is to infuse passion in teaching and in learning. Thomas and I'm the head of Professional learning at Kiddo. When I was a teacher, I taught high school and middle school, Algebra one and geometry. I also taught Language, Composition, AP, American Lit, Great Lit, Everything You Can Think. I also taught at the college level in a technical communication program at the University of Central Florida. Also taught poetry inside a maximum security prisons. This week for Teacher Appreciation Week, I couldn't think of a more deserving person to recognize than my former British lead teacher. And when I went back to teach at the high school I graduated from, she'd already become principal. My former boss, Doctor Denise Aloma. Dr. Denise Aloma, taught me three different things #1 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a really cool story #2. That if you hold students to a high standard, even if they don't reach that standard, they'll probably accomplish more. Then if you hadn't. And sometimes students surprise you and themselves. So when you ask them to accomplish great things, they're capable if you believe in them. The third thing she taught me was that teachers should be lifelong learners, and she modeled that for me by going and getting her doctorate degree while I was her student. And I was remembered that how dedicated she was to the classroom and how she used her expertise to bring us the best education. And here at Kim, I know we're doing that same great work. So if you're watching Doctor Aloma, thank you so much for all you taught me and continue to teach me. I'm Alessandra, an account executive here at Kingdom. Before coming to Kingdom I was a special education teacher for 10 years. I want to give a shout out to my third grade teacher, Mr. Hector. He was the first person to show me that reading could be fun, enjoyable and even silly sometimes. Hi, my name is Ryan Delagarza. I am an instructional designer here at Adam's working on our math content and I want to do a huge shout out. All the teachers out there doing amazing work with students and specifically wanted to thank two of some of the most influential teachers that I had the pleasure of being a student too. First of all, Miss Randolph, my 8th grade algebra teacher. That class was the first time that I realized teaching is something that I wanted to do. I discovered a love for algebra and numbers and saw math as a puzzle that was so much fun to figure out because of the way she approached her methods of teaching and giving us the opportunity to explore. Play Second teacher I wanted to shout out is to miss Scuba Neck, one of my math professors In college, when I was going through my education courses, and specifically the math courses, she was able to explain concepts in a way that helped me really understand why things were working. And I think the way that I think about math today and the way that I teach math to my students and I think about teaching the students as we design things here at Kingdom is directly. Impacted and inspired by the work that she helped show me. So thank you to Miss Randolph, Thank you to Miss Kubanek, thank you to all the teachers out there who are doing amazing things every day. And on behalf of The Kingdom team, thank you teachers for your service and passion for the craft.