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Can you tell us about yourself? 

"Hi, I'm Lindsay McNatt. I'm a fourth grade math science and social studies teacher at Samuels elementary in Denver, Colorado. This is my first year at Samuel's, but I have been a teacher in Denver public schools for the past 15 years."

Why did you start a career in education?

"I started as a teacher because I love my own fourth grade teacher. She really inspired me to love books and science experiments and learning in general and I wanted to pass that on." 

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

"If I could have any other job, I would actually be a children's book author. I love stories and I love reading books to kids with different voices in particular." 

How are kids different now than 30 years ago?

"I think kids are a lot more aware of the world than they were 30 years ago because we are able to easily communicate with people from different places and we have so many windows into other people's lives with social media and just being able to see things online. I think it's both a good thing and a bad thing because kids are exposed to both. The positive and negative influences out there." 

How is teaching different now than 30 years ago?

"In teaching is different these days because we have so much more access to technology. And also we're a lot more inclined to look for ways that kids can learn that are more hands on instead of just memorizing or, um, learning ways in the more typical fashion that we did when we were young." 

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

 "To someone that is thinking about becoming a teacher right now. I would say get into the classroom with kids as early as you can. So volunteer, go in and help somewhere tutor, find a summer program, see what's out there as soon as you can because the more experience you actually have in the classroom working with kids, the more successful you'll be in your own classroom."

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

"One thing that I would change to help kids learn better would be I would want to give us more time for project based learning and actually applying the different skills and strategies that we learn about instead of, um, so much focus on testing. Thank you so much. Have a great day."