Katie Plum, Third Grade Teacher at Matthew Whaley Elementary School is Teacher of the Month Dec 2016
Congratulations to Katie Plum, Third Grade Teacher at Matthew Whaley Elementary School.
Katie Plum was voted Teacher of the Month for Dec 2016. Mrs. Plum is accepting her gift card and certificate from School Crossing Owner Sherry Phipps.
Katie Plum was asked a series of questions about herself and teaching that we hope you enjoy. We are lucky to have her in our community!
1. How long have you been teaching and teaching at Matthew Whaley and as a 3rd Grade teacher?
I have been teaching 3rd grade for 11 years at Matthew Whaley. Andy Jacobs, now the principal at Matoaka, hired me straight out of William and Mary, and put me in charge of his daughter’s class! He set me up for success my first year, and I have loved almost every minute of teaching at Matthew Whaley.
2. What drew you to teaching, teaching at Matthew Whaley?
I come from a family of teachers and was raised with the idea that it is our responsibility to share our knowledge with others. I love being with third graders because they have thoughtful and logical perspectives about the world. Matthew Whaley is a school steeped in traditions. I love that we can look out the front windows every day to watch sheep and oxen grazing in Colonial Williamsburg’s fields, and that my colleagues have a team-effort approach to educating our 500+ children.
3. Can you mention a project where you were able to engage the kids outside of the classroom or stories that you heard where they brought their learning home?
The Williamsburg Fire Department is incredibly generous with their time and energy. Each year, the Firefighters and EMTs work to develop great relationships with all Matthew Whaley students, but come to mentor my students. For the last few years, they’ve come so that my students can interview them about how they use our learning concepts in real-life situations. For example, the children will interview them to find ways they use concepts like rounding, measurement, or condensation in their work. The firefighters and EMTs have taught us all more about their work, and I continue to be incredibly grateful for the professionals we have working in our community to protect us.
4. What perspective have you gained from being around 3rd grade children all day?
Third graders can be incredibly flexible, and I think we should all take this as a life lesson! They are flexible around schedule changes, substitutes, new routines, and want to do their best to make adults happy. The amazing part about my students is how gracious they are in making those changes sometimes. I often reflect on situations in how I could be more gracious or flexible, based on the 22 role models that I have every day.
The other amazing thing about 3rd graders is that they are usually whole heartedly accepting of each other. They are wise enough to recognize some of their differences, and yet, they still work and play with each other every day. Their tolerance of others’ beliefs, economic backgrounds, and quirky habits is a life lesson that I think we should all learn from.
5. What do you want your students to be able to do when they leave your classroom – that you know will prepare them for further education and life in general?.
I demand that my students are kind. Kindness and hard work will get them so many places in life. We talk about how they should face academic challenges often, and not everything will be easy. However, they need to leave knowing to say thank you to the cafeteria ladies and hello to their bus drivers and cleaning their own learning spaces for the custodians. It would be great if they learn to multiply and write a well-formed paragraph in the meantime too, but above all, they need to learn to be kind.
6. If you could ask parents to do one thing to help their children’s academic success what would it be?
Parents can help protect their children’s time. The amazing thing about our community are the number of fun opportunities children have to play sports, participate in clubs, or be in organizations. However, overscheduling anyone – kids or adults – can lead to lots of challenges. Parents should budget lots of downtime to allow kids to climb trees, play outside, or relax. Balancing fun activities, academic requirements, and family time is hard for all of us, but vital to happy, healthy children.
7. Do you have a favorite quote that inspires you and/or your class that you find you post, read, share or just meditate on?
Deeds Not Words – Creigh Deeds is a Virginia Senator who represents Bath County, VA. His bumper sticker is posted in my classroom, and I hope it guides my practice every day. My students and I reflect on it occasionally, more when they need to apologize to someone meaningfully or promise that they’ll do something. We talk about how essential it is to be trustworthy, and our actions are what people remember. It’s a simple set of words, but incredibly powerful message.
9. Are you from Williamsburg? If not, where are you from, what brought you here?
I grew up in Winchester, Virginia, and came to Williamsburg in 2002 as a freshman at William and Mary. I didn’t expect to still be here, but this community supports education in meaningful ways. I adore working in a historic school surrounded by highly professional colleagues and families who want the best for their children. Now it’s a great place for my husband and me to raise our infant daughter.
10. Do you have any life lessons that the students in your class have taught you – maybe a short story about kindness, sharing or just a 3rd Grader’s perspective?
Third graders could probably write a whole book on life lessons. A lesson that has really become more of my lifestyle than a lesson is how much FUN it is to learn. Third graders don’t care that we’re working on SOL 3.2. They care that they get to have a GREAT time exploring simple machines and building a project! There are numerous technicalities and data-driven parts of teaching these days, but the children remind me every day that the whole reason that we’re at school is to establish the foundation of life-long learning. We need to focus on quality teaching and fun learning, and the rest of the pieces always fall into place.
Well said! If you would like to vote for next month’s teacher of the month you can vote here. Teacher of the Month is a partnership between School Crossing, The Virginia Gazette and WilliamsburgFamilies.com.
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