In this episode, I talk with Social Studies facilitator Kyle Smoker.  Kyle teaches 9th Grade Integrated Geographic Studies.  This year he’ll be partnered with Lauren Brennan as well as one of our new SPED teachers, Sara Milius and our new ESL Teacher, Darcy Botham in the 9th grade integrated classes.  Kyle will also be co-teaching a section of US History with one of our ESL teachers, Carolyn Kegeris.

In this interview, Kyle talks about how his experiences being raised in a conservative, religious background led to his desire to become a teacher, how he found tremendous success in a US History project last year during remote learning, and why he thinks it’s so important to not have a deficit mindset regarding our students.  He also talks about the need to balance high expectations and rigor with building strong relationships with students and getting to know them on a personal level.