The Extraordinary Educators Podcast
Best practices, tips, and stories to help you be extraordinary in your classroom and beyond, featuring Curriculum Associates' Manager, Voice of the Customer, Hayley Browning.
The Extraordinary Educators Podcast
Shaping Minds, Changing Lives: Teacher Appreciation Week with Kelly Sia
Today's episode features an exciting guest, joining to celebrate Teacher Appreciation -- Kelly Sia, CEO of Curriculum Associates. In this episode, Kelly shares all about her respect and admiration for teachers across the country. Starting with her own elementary school teachers leaving a lasting impact, to now seeing how her own children's teachers guide them, Kelly talks about keeping her admiration for teachers, and valuing their voices, at the forefront of her day-to-day. She wraps up with some wonderful words of gratitude for educators everywhere. Give this episode a listen wherever you get your podcasts, and make sure to leave us a review!
Read Kelly's blog: CurriculumAssociates.com/blog/teacher-appreciation-week
Follow us on Twitter: @CurriculumAssoc
Follow us on Instagram: @MyiReady
Have feedback, questions, or want to be a guest? Email ExtraordinaryEducators@cainc.com to connect with us!
Curriculum Associates, an education technology company, and the makers of iReady, presents the Extraordinary Educators podcast. Join host Haley Browning to hear tips, best practices and successes to improve your teaching and leadership and drive student growth and learning. We believe all educators are extraordinary and we are here to support you. Hi everyone, welcome to the Extraordinary Educators podcast. It's your host, Haley Browning. You may have noticed we've been on a little bit of a hiatus. We are coming back full swing in the fall, but in the meantime, we really wanted to share a really exciting bonus episode with you all to celebrate the incredible Teacher Appreciation Week. I'm really excited to bring this episode to you. I'm joined by Kelly Sia, who is the newly appointed CEO of Curriculum Associates. Kelly, in this episode, shares all about her time visiting classrooms and schools, as well as offering up some words of encouragement and inspiration for you all during this time of the year. So with that, let's go ahead and dive into today's episode with Kelly. Hi Kelly, Welcome to the Extraordinary Educators Podcast. Hi Haley, I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 2:Thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1:We're so happy to have you, and just being here to talk about Teacher Appreciation Week is so important, and so, with that, we want to just dive right in. Let's talk about your experience with teachers growing up in your K-12 experiences. Your experience with teachers growing up in your K through 12 experiences. So was there a teacher that stood out to you and had really inspired you and who has shaped you into who you are today?
Speaker 2:That's such a great question. I had so many teachers that were impactful over my years, but there was one that stood out when I was in second grade, Mrs Guida Boney, and I felt like from the beginning of the school year that I had a really strong connection with her. I felt like she saw me in different ways that other teachers had before. I remember her giving me extra special reading books to take home and she would like earmark different passages for me to read through and I just felt that, you know, she was pushing me beyond my own comfort zone and she made me. I just felt that, you know, she was pushing me beyond my own comfort zone and she made me feel special and you know, she actually gave me more confidence as a reader than I had had in my own self.
Speaker 2:So I also remember when I would get sick in second grade I was so sad that I had to stay home. I miss Mrs Guidovodi every day that I wasn't home, so I don't know what that says about me, but I really missed being in school.
Speaker 1:Kelly, I relate to that so much. My mom used to make fun of me because I would fake being healthy when I was sick. So I get it. Yeah, when a teacher really makes that impact, it hits home harder than you would imagine really. So I love that. Thank you so much for sharing. Now thinking about Teacher Appreciation Week as a whole. Why do you think this is so important?
Speaker 2:Teachers in many ways are unsung heroes, and I'm a mom of three, I'm a CEO of an education company, so I do see a lot of educators, but I think what hits close to home is seeing my own kids and witnessing their own school experiences. I have three kids there are a couple in high school and one's in middle school and it was just a few weeks ago that my seventh grader, my son Henry, his teacher emailed me and I remember seeing emails around like I don't know, 8.30, 9 pm and I yelled down the hall like.
Speaker 2:Henry, get in here. Your teacher's emailing me. This could go many ways, by the way, henry largely is a very good kid, but anyway, I had him read the email with me together, so we read through it and the teacher said you know, dear Mr Rizosia, I'd like to tell you about Henry, and he just took this test called iReady, and good thing, I'm very familiar with iReady, so that was helpful. And he talked about growth and stress growth. And he said that we should be very proud of Henry for all the hard work and that he had seen Henry really engage over the last few months and raising his hand a ton and being a leader in class.
Speaker 2:And my first reaction was Henry this is a mid-year, so I happen to know a little bit about iReady and I asked Henry, did you try at the beginning of the year? Like, is this real growth? Did you, have you really been stepping up or did you just kind of flank the tests back in the fall? And he assured me that he had been trying all year long. And so, yeah, it's so great to see, as you know firsthand, what a great teacher can have in your own kid's life. It really is amazing hands, what a great teacher can have in your own kid's life. It really is amazing.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's so, so powerful, kelly, and congrats to Henry on all of the growth that's important.
Speaker 2:We're looking forward to his end of year as well, so now I'm looking out for his end of year report too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, gotta, keep eyes everywhere at all times.
Speaker 1:And it's awesome that you have that relationship with the teacher, that they able to email you and and really make sure that you are aware of what's going on and celebrate those wins. So I love that. Yeah, so with that, you had mentioned that you pop into classrooms every now and then and we, we love that. Here. I would love to hear you talk a little bit more about what you've experienced in those classrooms, when you're visiting schools and meeting with these teachers in those classrooms. When you're visiting schools and meeting with these teachers, what do you listen for, what do you learn from these teachers when you're in the actual environment where they are daily?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really feel like it's an honor to get in classrooms To actually see educators doing their best work and getting to witness that is really a privilege. And I try to get out to whether it's professional learning sessions or educator symposiums to really hear feedback firsthand. That's where we get our best ideas. That's where we get tons of insights. It's where innovation often comes from, maybe from pain points that educators may be feeling that we learn about. That we can solve with iReady or other things we we're doing. But one thing comes to mind.
Speaker 2:I was in I think it's Ohio and I was part of a professional learning coaching type session called learning walks, and I had the opportunity to spend a few hours with folks and then what happened was educators sat down and they talked about their intentions and their goals, the things they were working on in the classroom. They were talking about what they were trying to get better at, and then what we did is we went into the classroom and got to observe the educators working on what they said they were trying to work on, and then we talked about, we stepped back and we reflected on all the learnings what they got out of it, whether it's helpful, their challenges.
Speaker 2:We're trying to figure out how we can best support them and meet them where they are. But what struck me in that moment was how vulnerable that process is for an educator to welcome people strangers into their classroom because they're looking to better themselves and take advice, take learnings from best practices. I just thought that was super vulnerable and it made me walk away thinking like, yeah, I should be doing this more as well. Feedback's a gift.
Speaker 2:And why not bring people who you trust into the process of getting better? I just thought it was such a great and inspirational experience for me.
Speaker 1:So inspirational, and I feel like it says a lot about teachers that they're willing to step into that vulnerable space to do what's best for their students. And you, having the opportunity to have those boots on the ground and hearing that feedback in person and from the people that are using the products is so, so powerful. So love that. And with that, kelly, we do just want to wrap up with the opportunity for you to share one message of encouragement or gratitude for all of the teachers that are out there listening, whether that be on their commute or their lunch break. So with that, feel free to jump in and share your message.
Speaker 2:All right. First off, we're so grateful for all the teachers out there. We as a company serve 14 million kids and 1 million educators and my main message is thank you. Teachers are often unsung heroes and have such incredible impact and I think the thing that comes to mind is they are really shaping minds and changing lives, and whether it's one student or a classroom of students, or decades of support in the classroom just huge, huge gratitude and appreciation for all that you do.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Kelly, and shout out to all you teachers that are out there shaping minds and changing lives. We appreciate you. Shout out to all you teachers that are out there shaping minds and changing lives. We appreciate you Get inspired by following us on social and please tag us in your posts on X at Curriculum Asoce and on Instagram at my Eye, Ready If you have feedback about the podcast, a topic of interest or want to be a guest. Email extraordinaryeducators at cainccom. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and if you'd like to help more educators like you, join the conversation, please leave us a review. Remember, be you be true, be extraordinary. The Extraordinary Educators podcast is produced by Curriculum Associates. Curriculum Associates believes that with the right supports, all children can reach grade level. We provide evidence-based, high-quality instructional materials and world-class implementation services to classrooms across the United States. Editing completed by Shane Lowe, social media by Atsiti Hannon, guest booking and production by Haley Browning. This podcast is copyrighted materials and intellectual property of Curriculum Associates.