Celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week with Kathy McGrane

Editor’s note: As part of our celebration of National Teacher Appreciation Week, we are highlighting a few outstanding educators from classrooms across the state. We thank all of our extraordinary teachers for providing students what they need to meet high expectations and realize their incredible potential.

Today’s Q&A spotlight features Kathy McGrane. McGrane has been an educator for 30 years with experience teaching Chemistry and AP Chemistry. Currently, she teaches grades 10-12 at Valley High School in the West Des Moines Community School District, where she is committed to making a difference in the lives of her students. For Teacher Appreciation Week, McGrane shared why she loves working with students and how one of her own teachers impacted her love of science.

What is your favorite memory or teaching moment in the classroom?
I have so many fond memories from my years of teaching–how do I pick just one? Our Chemistry Club once performed a demonstration at a school assembly using liquid nitrogen to explode a container of ping-pong balls. I can still hear the roar of the student body with squeals of laughter and excitement. It was amazing!

Why are you passionate about teaching? What things do you love about working with students?
I am so proud to be a public school teacher! My drive to get up every morning is that I am making a difference in the lives of young adults. I work to help them learn to be critical thinkers, problem-solvers and just overall good human beings. We welcome the young adults in front of us and help them grow. Chemistry and science are my specialty areas, so students are sometimes surprised when I say they don’t have to major in those subjects for me to be proud of them. Learning science helps us better understand the world around us, but we need a variety of people in this world to make it work.

What do you think are the keys to a student’s success and how do you help foster continued learning?
Starting a unit of instruction with an exploratory lab or demonstration piques the curiosity of the students. If they are intrigued enough, they will be intrinsically motivated to learn more in order to figure it out. In teaching, you start small and gradually increase the challenge and level of difficulty. Before you know it, they are completing challenging AP Chemistry problems! Once you build the habit of observing and being curious, you will be a lifelong learner.

How have you grown as an educator? What advice would you give to a new teacher starting out in the field?
I worked to achieve National Board Certification in Teaching in 2012. The portfolio work and content area tests really helped me view teaching from a different perspective.

I am so glad to have new teacher colleagues with whom to help along in the teaching profession. One important thing to remember is that you can have the best lesson plan ever, but because we work with people, that plan might need to change. We learn to go with the flow and keep moving forward, no matter what.

Who was a teacher that made a positive impact in your life? What things did they do to make learning meaningful?
One of my high school science teachers at North Tama in Traer was Martin Herker. He helped to ignite my passion for learning science. I enjoyed his quirky style of teaching, and I found the way he linked science and math incredibly fascinating. He had a kind heart and helped me believe in myself. We kept in touch through the years and were able to later interact as science teaching colleagues.