Meet Laura Kamau, a Grand Ridge Elementary Teacher

As a teacher of 29 years, I have had many experiences that have made my career exciting and challenging. I have always wanted to be a teacher since I was in the 4th grade. I have accomplished so many things over the years. I grew up in Hawaii, and diversity is a part of my life. I will always be an advocate for all students and guide them to be lifelong learners. Currently, I am at Grand Ridge Elementary and have been in the district for six years.

When the pandemic first hit and schools were shut down, it was a shock and one of the hardest things that happened in my career. No one was prepared for teaching online. My mindset needed to change on how to teach in a virtual way that would educate the students and keep them responsible and engaged. I felt like I was back in college. I spent endless hours creating engaging PowerPoints, making Zoom videos, and learning how to use Microsoft Teams to push out assignments.

Then when we started in the fall of 2020 exclusively online, I felt more prepared and confident to teach online via Zoom. It was a different way, but I still thought of ways to connect and challenge the students. Later in the spring of 2021, when students were given the opportunity to come to school half a day in person, it was so awesome to meet them in person and see them be even more successful. I felt

that it was a smooth transition, and as a class, we could easily move forward.

It was challenging to teach live and virtual students at the same time. But truly, I loved the schedule of teaching half-day, having a longer planning time, and teaching all the students on Zoom in the afternoon.

In the fall of 2021, when most of the students were back, it took a good two months of transitioning the students back to full-time with COVID-19 restrictions. The students loved being back and seemed to appreciate school more. Overall, things are still challenging with training, meetings, and district deadlines.

I am most grateful to Jill Ravenscraft and Gary Aguilar. They have been so supportive and positive throughout this whole time. I am also grateful for all the supportive parents who made my job easier. If there was one thing I could change, it would be having more flexibility and options for supporting our students without a “regular year” of meetings, testing demands, and more time to adjust.

Schools need to be ready for any pandemic and always have the flexibility to teach in various ways and still succeed.

I have enjoyed working in the Issaquah School District. I hope that no matter what, educators have grace, flexibility, creativity, and open minds to move forward in the future with students in mind first.