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Can you tell us about yourself? 

Hello my name is Heather Gilbert and I work for Herty Primary School. I am the school counselor and we are located in Lufkin, Texas. I have been here. This is my second year here as the school counselor and absolutely love it. 

Why did you start a career in education?

Why did I start a career in education? Well, my dream of becoming an educator started when I was in kindergarten. I loved school so much that I would go home after school and I would line up all of my stuffed animals and Teddy bears, and I would teach them, teach my stuffed animals, what I had learned at school that day. So I've always known that I wanted to be a teacher. And so when the time came for me to go to college and choose a major, I already knew my major was going to be in education.

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

I really do love my job. There's not much else I would want to do, but I think it would be a lot of fun to be an actor on stage. And the reason why I say that is because I just, I don't know. I just love doing different characters and voices. I do it whenever I read a book to students. Um, it's just fun. Like I enjoy making people laugh. Um, so I don't know. That's just the first thing, I guess that comes to mind if I were to do anything other than be a school counselor.

How are kids different now than 30 years ago?

How are kids different now than 30 years ago? Okay. So definitely kids have changed greatly in the past 30 years, just with the advances in technology kids now. Um, they know how to manipulate and use technology in ways that I never did when, you know, 30 years ago, things that kids are doing now, as far as using iPads in classrooms you know, digital learning, virtual learning, all of those things that wasn't even in part of our imagination back 30 years ago. I think 30 years ago, you know, I was like in fourth grade like my biggest deal was like new kids on the block. Like I was so excited about them. Um, so yeah, I mean, kids have changed. Think the bit, the biggest way they've changed is, um, basically just how technology has really just taken over so much and how kids are able to, um, to work within that. 

How is teaching different now than 30 years ago?

How is teaching different now than 30 years ago, basically the same thing. We now integrate so much technology into every day. I mean, kids are working on iPads. There's interactive whiteboards that are used in classrooms. Just with COVID going on. I mean, so many kids, um, have been doing remote learning and that has, um, uh, required that teachers either become virtual learners or become hybrid teachers hybrid classroom teachers. So yeah, teaching is very different than it was 30 years ago.

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

What tells someone right now that is thinking about becoming a teacher, um, it has to be your passion. Being a teacher is not something that you do halfway. It really has to be your passion. There are people that might choose education, um, just because they feel like it's easy or, you know, Hey, I can work for 10 months and have two months off in the summer. If teaching is not your passion, you'll burn out fairly quickly. It has to be something that you are very passionate about doing. I know I keep saying passionately. But yes, teaching requires a lot of passion and a lot of dedication. And if your heart's not there, you're not going to enjoy it like you should in, if teaching will be something you leave behind instead of staying with it for the long haul, um, what is one thing I 

What would you change to help kids learn better?

Well, the first thing that comes to mind, I really wished that I could remove every learning disability from every kid. I really wish that I could give, uh, the kids that have those learning disabilities, a more level playing field when it comes to, um, knowledge acquisition. Um, I really wish that I could remove some of those disparities, um, as far as resources and what's available to kids, I work in a low, uh, SES, so socioeconomic status, I work in a low SES, um, community. And so a lot of our students, their parents just don't have the resources, um, to really do enrichment type things with kids at home, their kids at home. So I would say I would try to remove, you know, learning barriers. And I know I was only supposed to say one, but, um, just remove the obstacles that kids have, um, to getting to do those enrichment activities at home. Okay. So I guess that's it. Thanks for your time.