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Parents Passionate About the Classroom Pursue Path to Teaching
Description
They are parents who wanted to make a difference by getting involved, supporting their students in the classroom.
On this episode of the Supercast, find out why some passionate parents at Oakcrest Elementary School fell in love with the classroom, so much so that they decided to pursue a career in education to become teachers themselves.
Audio Transcription
[Music]Anthony Godfrey:
Hello and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. They are parents who wanted to make a difference by getting involved, supporting their students in the classroom. On this episode of the Supercast, find out why some passionate parents at Oakcrest Elementary School fell in love with the classroom, so much so that they decided to pursue a career in education to become teachers themselves.
We're here at Oakcrest Elementary with Veronica Holyoke, one of the administrators here. You're the assistant principal at Oakcrest. Introduce yourself a little bit and tell us why we're here for the podcast.
Veronica Holyoke:
Well, I joke that I'm Veronica Holyoke at Oakcrest Elementary on Hilltop Oak Drive. So, a lot of oaks.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh wow.
Veronica Holyoke:
Yes, yes.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yeah, that's right. The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.
Veronica Holyoke:
Right, that's right. Yes, exactly. Exactly. We're here because I was noticing my instructional coach and I, her name's Marla Daniels, shout out to Marla. She and I spend a lot of time looking for the good that's going on in our school. And we have this draft of all the good things that our teachers and our aides and our support staff are doing all the time. And then we make a weekly shout-out video that we share with everybody to highlight all the good things we're doing.
And in doing that this past year, we noticed that we had so many aides that were pursuing education. The more we got to know them, the more that we created a community of teachers. And so I felt like that was so powerful that I wanted to share that with you, because now we're up to seven aides that are pursuing or have graduated with a career in education, and two, we've hired to teach at our school for this next year.
Anthony Godfrey:
And you emailed me, I think it was back in February to tell me about this story.
Veronica Holyoke:
It was on a snow day, one of our virtual snow days.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, hey, there's another silver lining to that snow day. There was time for you to pause and send me that email.
Veronica Holyoke:
I had time that’s right. Yes, correct.
Anthony Godfrey:
And we've been thinking about this story ever since and I know it has evolved even since you emailed me in February.
Veronica Holyoke:
Yes, 'cause I think it was only maybe five or something like that and now we're up to seven.
Anthony Godfrey:
And we are now in the media center here and there's nothing quieter than an elementary school media center in the middle of July.
Veronica Holyoke:
Yes, it's a little eery.
Anthony Godfrey:
And so we're here to talk with three of the employees here at Oakcrest and we want to talk with you about your path forward and your connections to Oakcrest. So just introduce yourself.
Natalie Slack:
My name's Natalie Slack. I'm connected to Oakcrest by my children go here. And then I started here last year as a math aide. I'm currently going to school to be a teacher. I've got about a year and a half left of school. Before this, I had been interested in education, but had never pursued past where I am now.
Anthony Godfrey:
Great. And tell us about your connection.
Natalie Osborne:
My name's Natalie Osborne. My kids go to Oakcrest, and I would volunteer in their classes. I had a dif