On our show today, Katey Armstrong is a Family and Consumer Science teacher at West Aurora High School. Some of you may know Family and Consumer Science as “Home Economics,” which means Katey teaches all sorts of courses from food to interior design, giving future teachers a behind-the-scenes look at how learning really happens.
And with these topics, it’s not that hard to show students WHY they’re relevant to their lives. We all want a good education, yes, and we all want to have good food and a nice home. Katey allows them to think critically about the art and craft behind it.
She is also the leader of her school’s FCCLA chapter. In case you don’t know, FCCLA stands for Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. It is a national organization that allows its students to compete across the country in competitions ranging from leadership to interior design!
“If the child has a passion – and most children do – there is a project to encourage that passion and give them the opportunity to pursue it,” she said.
In fact, one of her students took FIRST PLACE in the nation this year in interior design! Yeah, pretty awesome. We’ll talk about all that and more here in the Teachers’ Lounge.
If you’ve never heard Teachers’ Lounge, our show is based on an idea: We’ve all had teachers in our lives who made us who we are. And we want to hear from the teachers who inspired you or who should be in the spotlight in your community. Every educator we have on this podcast, whether a teacher, coach, counselor or professor, is nominated by our listeners.
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SHOW NOTES
Educator in this episode:
Katey Armstrong
Story featured in this episode:
‘It’s very sad’: Reports describe the lack of mental and psychological health providers for children in northern Illinois
Music: Our show’s theme music is by Northern Illinois band Kindoves and their songs “Popn,” “Origins,” and “Quiche.” You can find more of their music on their Soundcloud page. You can also listen to the episode of WNIJ’s Sessions from Studio A that featured them.
Teachers! People who know teachers! People with stories about teachers! Send us an email and be part of the show!
