Since being named Louisiana Teacher of the Year in July, Kylie Altier of Baton Rouge has taken on a new role advocating for teachers across the state in addition to her full-time job teaching first grade at McKinley Elementary School. We are undertaking the following.
Her latest role, announced last week, will see her chair a new working group tasked with finding ways to remove the obstacles she and other educators face every day that prevent them from doing a core part of their work. It's about serving. It is aptly named “Let Teachers Teach” Workgroup.
The working group is the brainchild of Louisiana Schools Superintendent Cade Brumley.
“(Brumley) truly believes that teachers need to stay focused on the child, and he wants to know what's keeping them from doing that,” Altier said.
Brumley said the working group is expected to begin meeting this spring, but has not yet decided who will serve on the committee other than Altier.
The creation of the task force comes at a tumultuous time in Louisiana's public education landscape, as schools struggle to hire and retain teachers. Surveys of educators also show a range of concerns about their important profession.
In announcing the new working group, Brumley said the idea was introduced to educators through classroom visits he and his staff conducted, faculty meetings he hosted, and meetings of the 21-member Teacher Advisory Board. He said that it was born from what he heard from. — As Teacher of the Year, Altier is a standing member.
Brumley said he often hears complaints in these venues that the many challenges educators face take time away from classroom instruction. He cited excessive training and paperwork, demands for scripted classes, and problems with student behavior and discipline as examples.
“Nothing other than parents is more important to a student's success than effective teachers,” Brumley said. “One of the best ways to evaluate education professionals, he said, is to protect their time to accomplish the important work entrusted to them.”
Altier said all of the examples Brumley cited are concerns she shares, and that she “understands how teachers feel.” The challenge for her new working group, she said, is to leverage her own and other educators' know-how to create solutions that are achievable but “meaningful and purposeful.”
The ultimate goal is to make the teaching profession not only bearable, but one that people enjoy being a part of.
“I believe that happy teachers teach happy children, and the happier we make teachers, the more they can give back to the children. It has a real impact on our work,” she said.
Too often these days, teaching in a classroom is not a fun experience.
A school safety survey last year by the Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT), which involved nearly 1,700 members across the state, found that student discipline issues weigh heavily on teachers' minds.
And they're also a great way to kill time. 81% of LFT members reported losing 10% or more of their class time dealing with student behavior.
A similar survey conducted in Baton Rouge public schools last May found that 42% of educators said their classrooms were “significantly disrupted by student behavior” each month, and 22% said it was a regular occurrence. I answered.
In preparation for her new role leading the task force, Altier said she is doing her own fact-finding and asking the teachers she meets about their concerns.
Althea is doing this in addition to projects such as helping with schoolyard maintenance at McKinley Elementary School. She also serves on the Educational Effectiveness Committee of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE).
And she will be attending a panel discussion on March 19th about understanding the potential of seeds and the book “Weaving Sweetgrass: Plant Science and Indigenous Wisdom” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. He is one of five people who discuss the importance of This book is the first in the new Louisiana Inspired Book Club hosted by The Advocate.
Finding the time to teach well and maintain a life outside of school is an ongoing challenge.
Since becoming a mother, Altier, who now has two children, said she has had to stop working until 9pm every day and has had to manage her time more wisely.
Even the simple things can make a difference.
For example, since moving to Baton Rouge in 2021, Altier has enthusiastically taken advantage of the work of district staff who prepare lesson plans for use with first-grade students. This reduced the hours she previously spent teaching in Alabama and Texas. Baton's plans for her Rouge lessons are solid and she has the autonomy to customize them to suit her own needs.
“I used to spend five hours a week planning lessons for the week,” she said.
