Ep 154 | Love Nuggets: Insights from a top teacher

SPEAKER_00 0:00

My mom was a classroom volunteer when we were growing up. She was a stay-at-home mom. And so she was always active in classrooms, like for my sister and I. And school just became the happy, safe place. Like we were either at home, at church, or we were at school. And so I fell in love with teachers and the school environment and making kids feel special.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. We all have that one teacher who made a difference for us. But my next guest claims it's the kids making the difference for her. She's the kindergarten teacher at Global Learning Academy and Escambia County Public Schools 2025-2026 Teacher of the Year. Today she's going to share how the combo of her conventional path and out-of-the-box teaching experience has led her to become a favorite among students and staff alike. Leading with service and creativity, Escambia High School graduate and real life teacher Barbie Kelly Reed.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:23

Okay. Was there really a teacher Barbie? I need to know.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yes, there really was. She came with two students that had little plastic desk, and she had this cute little like teacher jumper outfit. It was black and it had little alphabet number letters on it. Oh my gosh. She was my favorite Barbie.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

I love that she had an applique, like the teacher uniform with the applique letters. Yes. That's amazing. And you had her because you always knew that you wanted to be in education, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

What inspired that in you? So my mom was a classroom volunteer when we were growing up. She was a stay-at-home mom. And so she was always active in classrooms, like for my sister and I. And school just became the happy, safe place. Like we were either at home, at church, or we were at school. And so I fell in love with teachers and the school environment and making kids feel special.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

That's so cool. I love that it's become so natural for you, which I think that's so interesting, especially because you graduated from Miscambia High School, literally the most academically talented student in your whole class as Valavictorian. And you had half of your associate's degree completed thanks to dual enrollment. I mean, career-wise, you could have gone like any direction, certainly higher-paying ones with more adults to talk to. You know what I mean? Yes. Which kind of like leads me to the question okay, I get why education was a natural fit, but why elementary education? Because with that kind of academic strength, you certainly could have gone the university route. You could have been a trainer, right? Not all educators are in student classrooms. So why the little ones?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

I grew up in like the church nursery. And so as an older kid, we would help watch out for the younger kids. And so being with other children and helping children, especially as I got to like middle school, like I got to babysit and like I just fell in love with that age group. Like young kids make me happy. Middle schoolers and high schoolers have attitude problems, and I didn't want to deal with those. Right. And so I chose little peoples. I like the tiny humans, is what we call them.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

I do like the tiny humans also. I also would volunteer in the church nursery, and I would specifically pick the kindergarten age classroom group because they say the funniest things. Yes, they do.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

I'm sure you have some examples that you can share. Absolutely. Um, so one of my favorite stories from this school year, we were talking about living and non-living things this spring. And we'd start with easy examples, or so I thought was an easy example. We picked the example of rocks. And they're like, but rocks get bigger. I'm like, no, rocks start big and break and become small. And I had this one kid who had just transferred in from California, and he stood his ground and stood me down in the middle of my classroom. California rocks grow. It was so hard to keep a straight face. Like, and he was just adamant. And I was like, Well, I've never seen a California rock, so I wouldn't know. But Florida rocks don't grow. We're not calling them living things.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

I love that it just came down to a separation of states. Yes. It's like sometimes you can't, you can't reason past them, so you just move on.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Well, it's that kind of like out-of-the-box improvisation that I think is really maybe, I don't know if it's unique to you, but it's certainly something that I noticed about you because there's just a high contrast for your career path because you had like such a conventional formula with, you know, being an A student and then dual enrollment, and now here, with also, you know, the background of your family being in education, like it's very precise. And then you worked at Westgate, where the students really benefit from that improvisation and from that out-of-the-box thinking. What was that experience like for you?

SPEAKER_00 5:20

So in my conventional education system, like I went to school thinking I was gonna teach gen ed second graders. It wasn't my story. I tried, I applied several places. I went two and a half years from the year I graduated college to finally getting my first teaching job. And none of the ones I wanted worked out. I was like, all right, I'm trusting God. I don't know what this plan is, but we're gonna go. I got a phone call from the principal of Westgate at the time. And she's like, I see you have a background working preschool because I worked preschool from college till I got my job in the county.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

Yeah, you worked preschool while going to while going to college, yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Actually, I started my senior year of high school.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Of course you did. Of course. Because I knew what I wanted to do. I feel very bad about myself. I think this interview is over. No, I'm just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Okay, continue, continue. So I was like, I just want to go see. She's like, well, come work at Westgate. And I was like, I don't even know what Westgate is, but I'll go, I'll go interview. It's a job in the county. I'll take it. I can do anything for a year. And if I don't like it, I can move. And so I was like, I agreed to do the interview on the condition that I got a tour of the school too. I was like, I want to know what I'm jumping into before I take this job. And so we did the interview, and then I got to tour around the school with the then behavior coach at the time. And I walked into one of the classrooms and watching those teachers work with these kids, they were middle school, high school aged, severely autistic, nonverbal babies. And they were learning about dinosaurs and looking at pictures and identifying the pictures. And it was so different from anything I had ever seen that I just instantly fell in love with being able to reach what others would consider the unreachable kids. So many people tried to tell me that I didn't want to work at Westgate. And it broke my heart when other teachers that I respected from the county were like, Oh, you don't want to work with those kids. And I'm like, Oh, hold up. We don't get to call other people's kids those kids. Like, you don't, you don't get to claim that about other babies. And so I fell in love just on that first walkthrough. And so working there for seven years was just the most amazing experience. Because they're all have such severe impediments and impairments, you have to think outside of the box for them. And everything is individualized to each individual student. Like nothing works the same for two students. Everybody gets something different. And so when we talk about the modern, like the regular gen ed classroom, when we talk about like diversifying learning and universal design, like it's just ingrained into how I teach because you had to at Westgate. Because what worked for Johnny wasn't going to work for Mary. Their disabilities were completely different, but they needed to meet the same standards. So if Johnny had picture devices and could use pictures to talk, you had to set up the lesson with pictures so that he could respond. But if Mary had some vocal skills, you had to be able to make sure that she could practice talking to you and using her voice. And a lot of it came down to dealing with student behaviors. With severe impairments, come severe behaviors. They would tantrum, they would scream, they didn't want to do the work. It was too hard. And so we got really good at figuring out what they were willing to work for. I had a behavior analyst work with me on this one baby. She was so precious and so sweet, but she had a lot of pre-existing behaviors. She was a self-indurous baby. So when she would tantrum and scream and cry, she would also hurt herself in the process. And so she was on an individualized behavior plan as well as her education plan. And for her, her thing was bubbles. She wanted bubbles more than anything else in the world. She just wanted to watch you blow bubbles for her. And she had, we have, they're called voice output devices. And they're think Stephen Hawking, the box that talks for you. And so she had one of those, but she didn't want to use it. So I worked with the speech therapist to make sure the word bubbles was in there. And I put it down a few pages so that she had to go find it. I love this. My favorite video of her is we're at recess. It wasn't even during academic structure time, it was at recess. And I brought the bubbles outside and I sat them on the picnic table right next to her to voice device, and I walked away. She screamed at me and tried to like hand me the bubbles, and I just pointed back to her device. And sure enough, she went and she found the bubbles picture by herself and started asking for bubbles. And so then I would give them to her. So it's things like that. It's finding what they're willing to work for and finding a way that they have to do it, and then building the independence while you go.

SPEAKER_01 10:20

Wow, that goes all the way to human behavior and motivation. I have a couple of follow-up questions. Absolutely. And the first one is is that kind of strategic reframing part of the education that you receive to be a teacher? Or is that something that's just Kelly Reed?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

I can't take all the credit for that being just Kelly Reed. That is Kelly Reed collaborating with other experts. Westgate taught me, most of all, to collaborate with the other people. If I don't know the answer, somebody does, and I will go hunt it down and find it. We had this wonderful behavior coach at the time. Her name is Beth Seed, and she was my mentor. She took me under her wing. And anytime I had a problem, I'd go right to Beth's office. And so, like, I feel like most of my success is been in finding a mentor that can teach me. And now that I'm, and it hurts to say that I'm in a mentoring spot. I've been teaching long enough to be a mentor, which is still kind of crazy because it feels like it's not been 13 years and it has. I try to share knowledge as we go. Like, if I find something that works, I'm gonna try to share it. And if other people come and knock down my door, like, how do I do this? Like, it's it's part of what makes teacher teachers is that we teach each other as well as our kids.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

My other question was about universal design. I I love that you assume that I know what that is. And I'm sure the teachers listening to this do know what that is, but for the rest of us, what is that and why was it important for what you needed to do at Westgate?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

So, Universal Design for Learning, also known as UDL, is setting up access for every student. A really good example is the raised, bumpy yellow edges on sidewalk ramps. Most people don't realize they put them there for blind people because it catches their cane. That's an example of universal design. It's something that's there universally for everyone to use, even though it really benefits just this little subgroup. Oh, okay. But it's something put in place that everyone can get hold of. So in the classroom and in education, particularly, it's devices that read to each other. A lot of it right now is in Chrome extensions on the kids' Chromebooks. We've got these programs that will take a reading passage and the kids can copy and paste it into the extension and it will translate it down a couple of reading levels and clarify those hard vocabulary words for them so that even Johnny, who's a couple of grade levels behind his peers, can read the same passage, but the computer will translate and like define the harder vocabulary words for him. Is that AI? It's a form of AI, but it's not like actual AI. Like it's not making up content. Basically, it's an open dictionary that switches out hard words for like the simpler definitions. Language software, maybe. It's language software, yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:28

Okay. Okay. That's really interesting. And the the other thought that I had was that it seems very obvious, I'm sure, to anyone listening right now that your experience at Westgate was so critical in the evolution of your development as an educational professional. And it makes me wonder: should everyone have time at Westgate or a school like it to really set them up for the maximum flexibility for students in typical classrooms?

SPEAKER_00 13:58

It definitely made me a stronger, better teacher. It is not for everyone, but I think every teacher should spend some time at least in the self-contained ESE unit in their own homeschool. Get to know those kids and get to watch their teachers work with them. Because once you see what's capable for even the lowest learners who struggle the most, it has to inspire you to think that every student can do it. Because even if the least of these can do it, there's no reason that everybody else can't do it too.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Oh, that's interesting. What a fantastic perspective. I didn't expect you to say that because I'm thinking as an outsider, like, okay, it helped you teach, but really they helped you open up the possibilities of what every child can do.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

Is that what you mean when you say special education has your heart? That's exactly what I mean.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

So watching and working with disabled students, and I hate to use that word, but they do have disabilities. They have things that prevent them from being successful in a general ed classroom, but it doesn't mean that they can't do it. They just do it differently. One of my favorite phrases has been different, not less. And so when I talk about these kids that pour into me, that's what I mean. So I had this one baby at Westgate. He was so precious. He was a Sacred Baby syndrome survivor.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

And so he had some physical impairments and some mental cognitive disabilities. He acted very young for his age. He was 16, but was like in love with Barney. And he was just very mentally young. And he had some very severe behaviors. But he was really the first, like one of the hardest kids I've ever worked with. I call them my love nuggets. Because by the end of the year, they get so much of my attention and so much of my love that they just have a nugget in my heart. And so they're my love nuggets. I'm gonna cry and I'm sorry. It's okay. And so we worked really hard with him. And we found out that the trigger for his behaviors was the word no. You know how hard it is to teach and not say no ever? Because the instant he's heard the word no, he would destroy my classroom. Like throw tables, attack his peers, attack the to us, the staff. Like he was really hard to work with. But I reframed everything I ever said and got through in 180 days without saying the word no to this child. Wow. And it's not because I gave him what he wanted, right? I reframed how I said it. It was a lot of later. It was a lot of do this instead. Do this instead. It was a lot of how about this? He also really loved chicken nuggets. That's helpful. It was very helpful. I found something he liked. It worked for us. And so we had a picture schedule in my classroom of what comes next during our day. And for him, I added in actual chicken nugget pictures after all the hard academic work times. If you sit and do at the table and come work with me, I promise you chicken nuggets.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

I think you've just unlocked the key to my own future motivation.

unknown 17:35

I'm not kidding.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Chicken nuggets is where it's at. Yeah. So for him it was chicken nuggets. But being able to work with him, and he was 16 by the time I got him, but he had been at Westgate since he was three. He had not been allowed on a field trip off campus since he was seven. So it had been almost 10 years since anyone had tried to take him off campus. We got his behavior to such a level that he was compliant and safe most of the time. And so I was actually able to take him on his first field trip.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

In like a decade. And so that was really cool. We did to the Special Olympics at Tate High School for the track and field event where we put all of the ESE babies out on the track and field and we let them do like a modified field day. And it was so amazing. And he had so much fun. He was such a social kid. Like he knew all of his friends' names. He knew just about everybody at Westgate because he had been there since he was three. And like he was so excited that he got to go on the bus and go on the field trip that it was worth the months of hard work for him.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

You improved his quality of life, though. I mean, it's not just about a field trip or making your life as a teacher easier. You unlocked something really precious for him.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Yes. And I love the fact that you said quality of life, because that's the crux of what we taught at Westgate was quality of life. And that part I bring it with me to my current position too. It's not just the fact that they're five and they're kindergartners and we have to get through this. It's how can we make you a better human?

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Oh, I love that. So, how does your experience at Westgate help you do that in that mainstream classroom?

SPEAKER_00 19:20

A lot of it is building independent skills. Like we call them the current hot phrase for them is executive functioning skills. It's can you follow a routine? Can you like in kindergarten it looks like can we organize our materials in our desk? Can we keep track of the same five pencils from Monday through Friday without losing them? You laugh.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

I'm trying not to, but it is a little bit funny. Because I picture a classroom of five-year-olds, like from the despicable me movie, The Little Yellow Minions. And so it's not too far from me. That's not far from the truth. And so picturing minions keeping track of pencils, I'm I apologize, but there was just a funny little movie in my head just now. And so that's what happened. But I mean, it's not like humor isn't a part of a teacher's life. So you definitely have these movies in your head, I'm sure, as well.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

100%. This video of somebody trying to line up kittens to take a picture and like trying to get them all to stand in the same place. That is kindergarten in a nutshell. Hurting cats. It's hurting cats, especially in August, then they're fresh little babies. Yeah. So, like it's those kinds of things. It's teaching the basic, like independent skills, it's teaching the emotional skills too. And it's finding what works for each student, especially in kindergarten, when we've got them coming in, and we've got half the class went to pre-K and half the class has never been in a school setting before. They've only ever been with family. And normally speaking, they're the center of the universe in that family, or they're just with like one preferred adult at a time. And so getting into kindergarten, like you get a wide variety of skills. And so to get them where they need to be by the end of the year, you have to meet them where they are. And I think that's one of the biggest things I got from Westgate was meeting kids where they were. Because it doesn't matter where they need to be. If you can't meet the immediate need right now, you're never gonna get that growth.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

And you've talked before about kindergarten readiness kind of being tied in with those emotional skills. Can you talk about that? Because that was surprising to me that it was top of mind for you.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

So there's this wonderful program that I got to be a part of last summer called Ready Kids. And we invite parents and their rising kindergartners up to the school during the summer, and we do the session with parents. And one of the biggest takeaways from me was how many of our students are coming into kindergarten without emotional regulation. And so I tried to press on the parents that five-year-olds think everything is a big deal. They have really big emotions for being as tiny and cute as they are, losing one of those five pencils will cause an absolute meltdown and it will stop all instruction because Johnny's world has just fallen apart because he can't find the favorite pencil. Mind you, all five pencils are the same, but it doesn't matter. That was Johnny's favorite, and now Johnny is done. And so giving them words, being able to label their emotions, I'm upset, would be just the best thing ever for five-year-olds. Like so many of them come in, and again, they've been with mom and dad, or they've been with the older siblings and they've been catered to, for lack of a better term. Like they're five, they're normally the baby. And so it's a really big change when you come into kindergarten and you have to be independent, and that the world's not going to be able to stop for you because there are 18 others in the room. And so like the crying tantrums and the increase that we've seen in just the tears and the one small moment can ruin a kid's day for the rest of the day if it's not handled. And so kids need a bigger toolbox. Like they need more strategies that they've seen and they know how they work so that when they come to the classroom, they're ready for the classroom. Things like waiting patiently is a really big skill that we're missing right now. Raising a hand and waiting to speak is a huge skill.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

Oh, interesting. I don't think I would have thought of that.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

But it comes from being able to wait your turn.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

Oh, okay. So turn taking.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Turn taking is also a huge skill. Like these kids have never played board games. Like I've got every year, it always surprises me how many kids have never sat down to play a physical board game. And board games teach so many skills.

SPEAKER_01 24:17

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Like how to wait your turn, how to let somebody else have a turn and not just take over their turn and then just winning and losing. You're not going to win everything every time. Somebody has to be the loser if somebody is the winner. And like these skills are huge and impact the classroom.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Do you think parents know this?

SPEAKER_00 24:41

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Because I mean, when you're telling me this, it's definitely there's a light bulb going off. But I'm just wondering, gosh, like with everything parents have going on, I wonder if this is something that maybe they just don't know that they need to help their kiddo with is matching words to feelings.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:02

And realizing that that has a positive outcome for the kid. Like the kid realizing if I match my words to my feelings, I will get what I want or need sooner because it's not just about like, you know, word finding. Right. It's about communication. It's about communicating. Yes. Right. And the board games, you know, like that seems like uh a simple enough tip to try a board game and just see how it goes. Right. Right. Like even as simple as like Candyland or Monopoly.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

And I'm not saying play all the rules of Monopoly, just let them learn how to roll the dice and move around the board.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Oh, that's cute. That's such a good idea. Because I think everyone, at least everyone born in the 90s, has an old Monopoly game recollecting dust. And so because when you said Monopoly, I'm like, now wait a minute. I don't think that's age appropriate. But you're right. You can modify it so that you don't have to purchase something else. You can use what you already have. Yes. And that's so brilliant. I'm starting to really see why you're a teacher of the year. And I'm so glad that we could come together and that I could get to know you and you could share this. As we wrap up, I would love for you to share, since it's been, what did you say, 13 years that you've been teaching? What do you wish more people knew about Escambia County public schools?

SPEAKER_00 26:19

I think Escambia County Public Schools have some of the best teachers in the Tri-County area. Like the people who work here are dedicated to our students. I feel like Escambia County is very student need driven, especially coming out of COVID and being able to shift and turn the way education has in the last five years. How quickly we got devices back out to our families who chose to go remote. Like these all speak volumes about where the heart of Escambia County lies. And it's with our kids. Because without our students, the rest of us wouldn't need to be here. And so I think that's always at the forefront of every Escambia County employee. Like it's always about our kids.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

I love that. I couldn't think of a more perfect way to wrap this episode up. Thank you so much for sharing today and congratulations. Thank you. Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Scambia County Public Schools.