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Can you tell us about yourself? 

Hey guys, I'm Catherine Squyres. I am a teacher at Pineywoods Academy. I have been teaching for four years. I've been at this school for one year and we are in a little town in Texas. I teach geometry and financial math and with COVID, we're doing a lot of things online.

Why did you start a career in education?

I started teaching when my cousin started having an aha moment when I was helping him with his, um, algebra work.

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

And then before this, I was actually in data analysis, data analyst for Lockheed Martin dealing with their supply chain and whatnot.

How are kids different now than 30 years ago?

Kids are different now than 30 years ago because we have the technology and our kids are not learning to go to work in a factory they're they're learning. We should be preparing them for the culture that they're going to be in now and not for the culture that was in the sixties and seventies.

How is teaching different now than 30 years ago?

Teaching is different because we're, we're not preparing them for going to work in a factory and pushing out the same thing over and over and over again, where we're at today is they need to be more innovative and they need to be able to use the knowledge that they have, um, and apply that into the real world. 

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

Anyone who wants to become a teacher right now, I would say it's extremely hard. But it's so worth it. It's so worth being able to come in and teach kids and get them to where they are, um, in the right frame of mind and learning and becoming successful in their 21st century, not just the 19th, 20th century.

What would you change to help kids learn better?

One thing I would change to help kids learn better is to apply more project based learning. In my geometry class, we do a lot of projects that would apply in the real world. We're doing a build your own high school project. Um, that way they have to apply the math that they've learned and applied the science that they've learned and not just be. Um, and it not just be this matter of drill and kill all the time, especially when it comes to math, they need to know how to apply it in the real world and how they can be successful with that in the future.