Kelloggsville — Second-grade teacher Ashley McKeeby has always loved working with students.
“I’ve babysat,” McKeeby said. “I’ve been a nanny. In high school, I was in a program called peer assistance, where I got to go over to elementary schools and help out in classrooms.”
While pursuing her teaching degree in Alma College, she began getting classroom experience her freshman year.
“I’ve just always been that person who wanted to somehow work with kids and make an impact in their lives.”
Now in her 13th year of teaching, including seven at Southeast Kelloggsville, she looks forward to seeing her students, celebrating their successes, and building connections with them beyond the classroom.
She recently talked with School News Network about her commitment to teaching and why she shows up every day, ready to give it her all.
So what is the thing that gets you up in the morning and excited about teaching? “It’s the kids,” she said, describing the many things students are eager to share with her.
“It’s just knowing that yesterday this kid got excited about (something) or a student was so close to getting this math skill and today will be the day that they’re gonna get it or it was their birthday yesterday and I can’t wait to hear what they did for dinner at home or somebody was telling me they were getting new shoes and they just can’t wait to come show me.
“So it’s not even all the academics, it’s the personal (stuff) with the kids, too.”
What are some of the biggest challenges, and how do you strive to meet them? “The biggest challenge we have is the range of children’s abilities and it’s different for each kid in each subject. I have kids that are reading at a fifth-grade level and then I have some kids that we’re still working on reading and sounding words out and the phonics of it all …”
McKeeby said the goal is to meet the needs of all students while teaching second-grade content, challenging those who are further along academically and offering support to those who need more help.
What’s the most amazing thing about second graders? “They’re excited. They want to be here. Yes, there are days that they don’t want to do what I’m telling them to do or it’s boring, which is fine. I even tell them ‘OK, I know this is boring, but we have to do it.’
“They want to tell you about their lives and they want to make you happy. They want to know about me and we can really build those connections.”
‘Everything you have to do, multiply by 24 because everything you’re doing, you’re doing it times however many kids are in your class.’
— second-grade teacher Ashley McKeeby
Do you think elementary teachers tend to build lifelong connections with the students? “I do. I actually just talked to my second-grade teacher a couple days ago. There are several teachers that I still talk to that were my teachers 25, 30 years ago.”
What would you say to someone considering teaching as a profession? McKeeby said prospective educators should get into the classroom, get to know the students and talk to teachers about the profession.
“I think teaching is one of those professions everyone thinks that they know what it is because they’ve been in the classroom … (but) being a teacher is so much more than just teaching the kids.”
“There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that the students don’t see; the parents don’t see. Everything you have to do, multiply by 24 because everything you’re doing, you’re doing it times however many kids are in your class.”
What do you like about teaching second grade? “They are starting to be able to do stuff independently and to be able to work with partners. It’s exciting for them, because it’s kind of the first year that they’re getting those independent opportunities and more responsibilities, and they take a lot of pride in that.
“It’s really fun to see them step up into those roles, because I have taught kindergarten and first grade and everything was kind of handholding in those younger grades, and now it’s ‘OK, you guys do it. You guys talk at a table and you guys decide this.’
Sometimes they look at you like ‘Really? We get to do that?’ but then they’re excited to take ownership of their learning.”
Read more from Kelloggsville:
• Second-graders take on leadership roles as reading ambassadors
• He is demonstrating how important English is in business
