Kali Sanchez’s Biology classroom at Johnson High School is full of love. You hear it as the students holler, “I love you,” as they leave her classroom. You feel it in the way she talks with her students on their level with a rapport she’s developed with each of them over the school year.
Oh, and her room is also full of snakes -- like a lot of snakes -- nearly 20 of them. The snakes are a science lesson in and of themselves, but it’s also an opportunity for her to connect with her students.
“The kids love them. That’s one of the things that really helps us break the ice and get to know each other at the beginning of the year.”
Sanchez is living her dream. Her dream of becoming a teacher started during her days as a North East ISD student. She attended Bradley Middle School and Churchill High School. So, when she got the chance to return to our District for her student teaching, she was ecstatic.
“I loved the culture at Churchill. Churchill is so spirited. So, I loved coming back and getting to teach at Churchill.”
After Sanchez finished her student teaching, a position opened up at Johnson High School. It was her dream job. Johnson was relatively new. She saw an opportunity to build that culture she loved so much from Churchill at a new high school. She’s taught biology at Johnson for nine years, and her efforts are paying off.
“I love building that community. I try to get my students to talk to someone else during lessons to get everyone involved. I think one of the big things I try to do is build a community inside the classroom. I am making it a place they want to come to.”
But she’s not just building community inside the classroom; she’s building it outside, too. She involves her students’ parents. She sends them study guides or vocabulary before quizzes and tests. It gets them involved with their student’s education and helps her connect with her students’ parents.
“It’s funny, the students weren’t real wild about it in the beginning, but they love it now and ask me if I am going to send their parents the words or whatever. The feedback from the parents has been great, too. We are building a community, and it’s fun to be a part of it.”
