An Unintentional Calling

Interview of: Kelly Grant

Interviewed By: Rachael Chapman, Amira Gadow, Anthony Guevara, & Tenzin Migmar November 29. 2016

Kelly Grant

How She Got Her Job, What Makes Her Stay

I teach second grade at an all Somali K-8 Charter school, Banaadir Academy, in Minneapolis. It wasn’t my number one choice, but it was my first interview and my first job offer. I got thrown into it. It was a really good learning experience. I told myself I’d do a year for experience and then venture out to another school, and I’m still here because I love it and it teaches me things everyday. I’m still learning four years in, that every student is very different, especially in this setting. They all come with different backgrounds, and a lot of them come in here with no previous schooling at all. So coming into second grade with nothing can be difficult for them, but it’s teaching me to be patient and more open-minded.

Challenges

Somalia on a Map of Africa

The hardest part of my job is communicating with parents, a lot of our parents don’t speak English or they don’t have English as their first language. The only English they hear is from their children when they come home. But, a lot of the students only speak Somali at home. So it’s hard if I need to call a parent or I need to get in contact with them, whether it’s a good reason or a bad reason. I can’t just call them up sometimes. I need an interpreter, but I would say interacting and communicating with the parents is the hardest.  I feel like with being a female it’s challenging, especially coming from the Somali male culture. The adults where they’re from in Africa tend to think of females as less-superior. A lot of my students and families are very supportive of us, and they’re very happy for us. They tell their kids, this is your second mom, this is your mom, when you’re not with me, this is who you listen to, so they’re great.

Somalia on a Map

It’s challenging to communicate effectively with students who don’t speak English. I use lots of non verbals and I use my students to interpret if I have to. It’s amazing how much they pick up on if they’re hearing English all day. I had one student who was brand new to the country and to the school and he would just repeat my words, and if he hears me emphasize a word he’ll repeat it. It’s amazing how much they grow up, people think it would be a lot more challenging but, they learn so much from each other and they have a lot of chance to student-student talk, and share their ideas. Also, we have EL (English Learners) support and teachers that pull and push in everyday, and title support so we get those. It’s lots of non-verbals and we have to remember that we can’t dumb the material down. We have to teach grade level stuff, even if they don’t understand, so when they get pulled out, or when the EL teacher pushes in, then they can work on those things that they’re missing whether it’s letter sounds, or blending, or something else. When they’re in class they pick up on things like crazy. Especially math, math is universal, so it’s easier for them but reading is challenging, but they still get excited to learn and be in school so it helps a lot that they’re motivated.

Kelly Grant (second from right) at the yearly Banaadir Academy Picnic with her coworkers
Photo Credit: Kelly Grant

  
[on negative reactions from others] I have people who are, "Oh, are you going to do it one more year? Are you gonna stay there one more year?"or, "Wow, you're going back again?" And I'm say, "Yeah, I love it," and it's kind of those people that are more close-minded , they don't experience it and they're not around it all the time so it's easy for them to say that. There's teachers who have been there for a long time. I started four years ago and we have a really good group that have been here since then because we have such a high turnover rate for teachers too, that's not good for our students, because when a teacher leaves and a new teacher comes every year the students catch onto that. When they see that their teacher's putting in the time and the effort that they're here year after year it helps. I do get backlash sometimes. People are very hesitant, but I just tell them to come in for a day and experience it, please!

Rewards

The easiest part of my job, and my favorite part is definitely building relationships with students. I feel like it comes easy to me. It can be challenging for some, but for me, we always have a good rapport. I think about my relationship with my kids, I want to teach them, I want them leaving here learning how to be respectful and to be good citizens. That’s what my biggest goal for them is.

Since working at Banaadir, I’ve had many accomplishments, but none surpass the accomplishment of last year’s class. My first year, I had a gifted group of students that were high academically. They taught me to challenge them more. Last year, I had a group of 12 students who were majority newcomers, and were brand new to school. Their test scores at the beginning of the year were below grade level. They take the NWEA test for reading and math and by the end of the year, they had grown a huge amount. Almost half of them were at grade level for both reading and math. Student’s that came brand-new to the country were almost right where they needed to be for third grade. Astonishing.

Working at Banaadir has changed me as a person for the better. As I've mentioned already, it has enhanced my patience and has made me a more open-minded person. A lot of people are close-minded when they do not have opportunities to interact with different cultures and diversities on a regular basis. It has helped me become more kind and respectful to everybody, as well as more flexible. I can plan everyday to a T and it never works out the way it's supposed to.

Advice

If I could go back to my younger self and give advice, I would say to work hard and set up strong relationships with my students. This is my fourth year, so I’ve had a lot of those third graders, a lot of those fourth graders, and then my first group of kids are in fifth grade. And it’s crazy to see how big they are [laughs] and how well they do too in the different classes. I still check in on them all the time, “Are you still doing your job? Are you being respectful?” because I always run into the kids. I have a couple in here that I had last year and they come in to visit or they come in with their head down and they’re like, “Oh god, Ms. Grant’s gonna chew me out,” cause I will; They know better than that, so I check in on them all the time. A lot of them are still here which is great. So to just make sure you really build those relationships. That’s probably the biggest advice that I give new teachers too, to really focus on building those relationships. If it takes a week, a month, just make sure you have those in place. We see a lot of classrooms and teachers struggle because they don’t have that in place. Teacher and student relationships and having that mutual respect for each other. It goes back to, the kids know whether their teacher cares for them and trusts them. We spend time building the trust in each other and it helps.

Lessons

Banaadir has changed me for the better, I’ve learned plenty of life lessons. It has taught me to be more open-minded on cultures and English language students. I am still learning every day and I’m four years in. Every student I teach is very different, especially in this setting. They all come with different backgrounds and a lot of them come in to Banaadir with no previous schooling at all. Coming into second grade with nothing can be difficult for anyone, let alone student’s still absorbing a new aspect of life. It teaches me to be patient and more open-minded dealing with such adversity.

I’ve seen some wonderful things happen in the classroom. They teach me as much as I teach them. One of the greatest lessons a student has taught me was admitting when you’re wrong. And admitting when you’re upset. And showing them how to work through those things. It’s hard for them [the students] to make mistakes, they’re perfectionists, they don’t want to make mistakes, they don’t want to be wrong. They don’t know how to work their feelings and emotions and seeing their teacher do that and admitting those things helps. They’ve taught me that because I see how they react, and I see the things that they do, and it’s taught me the lesson to look back on myself too and say “It’s okay to be upset at this, but work through it in different ways.

What Does The Future Hold?

People always ask me if I’m going to stay at Banaadir or go out and look at new teaching jobs. I plan on sticking around for a while. The school is striving to make this place better for the students. We have a school improvement team and we are really looking at improving academics,  a new gym, and a new playground coming. There’s a lot of good things happening around here. I have no reason to leave, the kids are great. I would find it boring anywhere else.
Do I see this as my calling? I don't see myself anywhere else. Obviously, I have my days where I want to rip my hair out because the kids drive me nuts - but that's every job. The good days take over the bad. I get excited to go to work. These are my kids. I love them.

Do you have any regrets?
No regrets. I love it.

Citation of Photos

Kelly Grant: Staff Directory Banaadir Academy

Somalia on a Map of Africa: The Voice of the Martyrs Blog

Somalia on a Map: EagleSpeak Website