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Can you tell us about yourself? 

Hi, my name is Amy Melany. I am a fourth-grade general ed teacher at Legacy Elementary School. My school is located in Northern Colorado in a little town called Frederick. I have been here seven years, eight years, something like that. But I've been a part of the district here for over 20 and then been teaching longer than I can think about.

Why did you start a career in education?

Why, why did I start a career in education? I had a lot of influence from my mother. My mother was a teacher. I had amazing people in my life who were teachers that just instilled such a love of school in me and a love of learning. And it just seemed natural that that's the direction that I would head.

If you could have any other job what would it be and why?

If I could have any other job, what would it be and why? I would have to say I would probably go, I would probably go into nursing because I love serving people. I love helping people and you know, any difference that I can make in a person's life. That's, that's what I want to do. And so I'm fortunate. I get to do it with children for kids different now than 30 years ago. 

How are kids different now than 30 years ago?

So 30 years ago I was 20 years old and still pretty much a kid myself. I feel like in many ways, kids aren't that different than they were. And yet today I feel like they're a little more worldwide if that makes sense. And I feel like they know more about maybe things they shouldn't like. Um, they're, they're way too media savvy. They know about the problems in the world. And sometimes, sometimes that's good. Sometimes it's bad. I feel like they miss a little bit of the innocence that I remember having as a child. Um, but for the most part they're kids and they want to please, they want to do well and they just, you know, they want to have, have a good time and be happy. 

How is Teaching different now than it was 30 years ago?

How is teaching different now than 30 years ago? So I would say teaching has both improved and declined. If that makes sense. Improvements. I feel like there are so many incredible resources out there and I feel like I've had opportunities to learn all kinds of different strategies with teaching. In some ways teaching is harder than it used to be as well. I feel like because kids have maybe more to deal with in the world we live in. And I don't know, I feel like there's more expectations from the political level, um, on teachers and maybe we don't have as much authority in our classrooms. We're kind of told what to do, although I'm at the point in my career where I do what I know is best for kids.

What would you tell someone who wants to become a teacher?

What would you tell someone right now that is thinking about becoming a teacher, go for it. If you love kids and you love sharing what you know, and serving absolutely go for it. You have to learn, there's a lot of things you have to learn, not just about teaching, but making sure that you are in a good place yourself emotionally, and that you are ready to support the kids and that you don't come into it just to teach. You're here too, to love on these kids. But it is absolutely rewarding and I wouldn't, I wouldn't change a thing. 

What would you change to help kids learn better?

And then one thing I would change to help kids learn better. I bet you guys hear this one a lot. Let's get rid of all the testing we do to them. Let's let them learn. Let's let them explore. Let's let them be kids. Let's not put them into a box that involves test scores and numbers. My understanding, we have to have some way of accountability to make sure that kids are learning, but I think there's better ways. And I think that is it. I love this offer. Um, I've already bought one set of your head, your earbuds, and the kids have loved them and they've either gone home and gotten lost or, you know, after a lot of use, they get broken. And so I'm ready for a new set. So thank you guys so much for what you do.