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Can you tell us about yourself? 

"Hi. Um, my name is Lindsay Osborne. I'm in Liberal, Kansas. Um, I teach at Cottonwood Elementary School, uh, for fifth grade. Um, I've been here for five years, five and a half years." 

Why did you start a career in education?

"Started this career in education because that was where a lot of the people that influenced me came from. They were in the education career and also because I wanted to make a difference in the world" 

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

"Um, it'd be hard for me to decide what other job I'd be able to do because this is my dream job.This is something that I've always wanted to do" 

How are kids different now than 30 years ago?

"As far as kids being different now versus 30 years ago. Well, 30 years ago there wasn't all the technology that there is now. So, uh, to me that I believe the technology is a wonderful thing. Um, but I also feel it magnifies a lot of stuff that was there 30 years ago, but nobody really knew a lot about of it because it wasn't out there for everybody to see. Um, so we're running into that. The kids have a lot more exposure to things that they wouldn't normally have exposure to." 

How is teaching different now than 30 years ago?

"Which makes it difficult to teach because you have those kids that are more mature than others and then you have the, all of them being exposed to stuff that, well for example, they're getting exposed to scenarios and real life events that are happening in the world that they don't understand and it's scary and so it makes the whole place seem unsafe. And so when they feel unsafe, they've fall back on their defense mechanisms."
 

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

"I tell someone right now about becoming a teacher, it's a life altering thing and good or bad, you take something away from it as a teacher and if you're only in it, I mean just like they've told a students when they were going through the teacher education programs, if you're in it for the money, you're in it for the wrong reasons. You have to be here for the kids. That's the, that's the part that's most important."

What is one thing you would change to help kids learn better?

"As far as one thing that I would change to help kids learn better, I think I would like to change how we communicate with parents. I don't want parents to be scared to come talk to teachers or to feel like us being professionals, that we're on a pedestal. I want us to be a team because that's what these kids need. So I thank you for these questions and thank you for this chance."