Finding Classical Education: An Educator’s Story

What draws someone to teaching, and what does it take to become a great teacher?

In this episode, Head of School, Katy McKinney, welcomes Ms. Glidden, who spent the year serving as an intern at Lafayette Academy: A Classical School,  under the mentorship of master teacher Grace Leonard. Ms. Glidden shares what she learned from working alongside experienced educators, teaching young students, and stepping into the daily rhythms of a classical classroom.

Their conversation explores the importance of humility, lifelong learning, mentorship, and the formation of both teacher and student. Ms. Glidden reflects on how her experiences, from teaching swim lessons and jiu-jitsu to working with elementary students, helped prepare her for the classroom and shaped her understanding of what it means to teach well.

This episode offers an encouraging look at the next generation of educators and the kind of formation that helps teachers grow in wisdom, confidence, and love for their students.

If you've ever wondered how great teachers are formed, this conversation provides a thoughtful and hopeful perspective.

For more information about Lafayette Academy, A Classical School please visit https://lafayetteacademy.org/

For Referenced Resources from the LadyK Podcast Click Here for Download

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to the Lady K podcast. I'm Katie McKinney, the founder and head of school for Lafayette Academy at Classical School. And today I'm delighted to welcome Amelia Glidden to the podcast. She has been serving as an intern this year at Lafayette Academy under the tutelage of Miss Grace Leonard, who teaches our first and second grade students. Miss Leonard is one of our master teachers. She's been teaching for six years at Lafayette. She herself was a graduate from Hillsdale College and was classically educated throughout all her years, which is very evident, right, to both of us who have not been classically educated but are learning vicariously as we go. And to learn under Miss Leonard is no small thing. It's no small feat. You have to be a dutiful student yourself and ready to be disciplined and ready to take in the knowledge. But during her time here, Amelia has shown just that. She has really dived into the work. She has a natural gift working with students, a deepening understanding of classical education, and a sincere desire to grow in that craft of teaching. And so she brings with her years of experience, even though she's a young person. She has had her own swim business. She's been an instructor in jiu-jitsu. She's taught at preschools already. Years of being the oldest of a number of siblings, which I can attest is probably some of the best training. I'm the oldest of five, and that's frankly where I got. I would think I was teaching at five. You know, I mean it's you start early when you are the oldest, but you have taken your natural gifts and have sharpened them with careful observation and practice, and of course, now mentorship at Classical Academy, uh, at Lafayette Academy. But what has most impressed us about Amelia is her teachability. Um, she's been quick to listen, quick to learn, very much dedicated to the study of classical education. And she works very hard. And that's that's coming from someone, of course, who loves and enjoys children, but now she's also understanding the seriousness and the beautiful nature of classical education. And I will just sort of end the intro there and kind of dovetail when when you have completed or when you did complete your internship, we were talking with Miss Leonard. Um, you know, how did Amelia do overall? And she just looked at us and said, She's incredible. She said, please hire her. She is outstanding. She she understands the nuance of teaching, she understands the nuance of children, and now, of course, of classical education. And coming from Miss Leonard, that is incredible high praise. Um, she does not give that out lightly. And of course, if you you've seen her with her students, you know, she's she has a very warm and beautiful classroom, but she also has an authoritative manner as well, which I think gives great, as I mentioned, you know, I'll talk about this later, but just gives great uh security to the students. But in any case, I I guess you probably have felt that as well. But we're excited to have Amelia join us. She is going to be teaching first grade next year, and we could not be happier to have you join us. So welcome. Great to have you here. Thank you for having me. You're so welcome. So I wanted to just start. Um, you've worked very closely, uh, and really I look at it as a great gift. Anyone who has the opportunity to work with Miss Leonard um is is uh very fortunate. And I know when you when we first talked about this internship, we talked about the idea of you said, Oh, I would love to do kindergarten. And and while that is it's a great time, it's really nice to actually see sort of that first, second grade level because you see what the goal is from kindergarten, where you're headed. And I think having that end in mind probably has given you a new perspective as to what comes before. Um, so before we go into your experience with Lafayette, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what draws you to working with children?

SPEAKER_01 3:43

I learned my passion for working with children when I was around 15 years old. I started working at a swim school and immediately it just clicked, and I just love gaining the students' trust and being able to be excited about teaching. And then from then on, I just was committed to only working with kids and doing anything else would feel wrong. So I worked at the swim school and then I um worked at a preschool, and then I did my own swim lesson business. And then I also did I worked at jujitsu as a jujitsu instructor.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

So what is it about children that you enjoy? Do you like, do you like the the passing of the the knowledge baton? Do you like seeing them be successful? What is it that gets you jazzed up about working with children?

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Children are ready to learn and they are curious if you teach them to be curious and if you feed them with answers and with knowledge. And so that's something, even in coaching, seeing students accomplish or learn something that they never thought they would is definitely my favorite part.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

I would agree. I love it when a child says, Wow, I didn't even know I could do that. And and you know they have the capability, but with the right tools, we know they can do so much more. So you've had quite a bit of experience with children. Um, let's move a little bit more into the teaching aspect at Lafayette. We often say that education is not merely about the education, it's about the formation. And as you worked with the students now at Lafayette, I'm curious how you've come to understand the teacher's role in both shaping the mind and the character from your experience with Miss Leonard. I'm sure you have lots of opportunities where, of course, you're passing knowledge, but then there's these opportunities to form character. Um, and can you tell us a little bit about your role as a teacher? Um, how you look at that now?

unknown 5:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

When students are so young, it's important to acknowledge that they do need to be taught. And one of the ways that we do that at Lafayette is we have character cards. And for me this year, those have been really helpful because I get to see where certain students strive and where we need more work in. So that's something with the character that I've been able to use as a resource this year. And for specific students, if they need help and respect or if we need to work on perseverance, um, that has been something that has drastically helped me this year. And I've been able to see in other schools, it's usually a clip up or clip-down chart, but in this school, it is you're doing great at this, let's focus on this too. Yeah, that is an area that I've seen grow dramatically, even within my language when teaching swim, you know, you did a great job persevering. You know, I'm proud of you. You should be proud of yourself. Also, just treating students as if what they say matters and correcting them. Do you want to be telling them, do you want to be seen as someone who is rude in this opportunity to be nice? Just letting them know that um what they're saying now is reflecting who they are.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Interesting. For those who don't know, we have a character card and we do this kindergarten through fourth grade where it allows the teacher to have the explicit uh virtues, I guess, right on the on the character card. And then the teacher can be very clear and explicit about where they hit the mark on demonstrating that virtue or where maybe they missed the mark. And I agree with you. We do it even at the very highest levels. Whatever we want to grow in, we have to measure it. We have to see where we are. And that I think that tangibleness for the child is very effective because then they can strive to grow in that area, or they can just feel, like you said, very proud about what they have achieved. Um, and you acknowledging that um gives them great sense of self-worth and self-confidence because someone has recognized that in them. So that's that's great. I'd like to talk now about this opportunity to work with Miss Leonard as closely as you have, who has served with us for six years. What has stood out most to you? I know you've had other mentors in teaching, um, other bosses. Can you talk a little bit about what has stood out most to you and in how she teaches and how that's gonna affect you as a teacher?

SPEAKER_01 7:57

The first day I walked into her classroom, I learned very shortly that I was going to be learning a lot. And I learned that through Miss Leonard, I needed to ask questions because she had the best answers for me. And so asking for those questions and those resources, and then just sitting to the side and listening was something that helped me. I was able to pick up on her language. I was able to pick up on what she was teaching and how she was teaching it. Just listening throughout that time until I was ready to get up in front of the classroom and teach was definitely something that I had to do and I learned a lot from it.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

As you came to the classroom not expecting to learn much, I assume because you thought, oh, it's second grade. I've learned everything I need to learn from second grade. But the manner in which she com, you know, uh transfers that knowledge. The other thing is that it's so deep and it's so rich, isn't it? I mean, there is so much history, the the phonics that she teaches, um, obviously the mathematics, everything. So I like that you mentioned the how she teaches, because I think that is, you know, we can all teach knowledge, but I think the how is is really formative for her students, and I'm so grateful you had that opportunity. So, as you mentioned, Miss Leonard has a remarkable way of commanding her classroom. The management, it's both very warm, but there's also a sense of authority, which I think gives the kids a great sense of security, that they know they're safe and that things, everything is gonna get their needs are gonna be met. What did you learn from her classroom presence um or her routines that you will be carrying forward?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

I learned how to whisper when talking to students. And being a coach, that's not something that you typically do.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Sure, not in jujitsu.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Yes, yeah, because it's a different environment. Yeah, it's a completely different environment.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

So let's let's move into the sort of the art of the classroom and that sense of leadership, Miss Leonard is she has a remarkable way of commanding and managing her classroom. Um, I think it's both warm, but it also gives a sense of authority, which from from my observation, it gives the student and from my own uh excuse me, teaching experience. There's a sense of security and safety that the children derive from that sense of authority. Um they know they're gonna be heard, they know they're gonna get their answers, whatever that is. And it allows for great learning to happen. So with that, I'm curious, what did you learn about your own classroom experience with her, whether it was through just her presence, her discipline, her routines, that you're gonna take forward in your own career?

SPEAKER_01 10:28

I learned how important quietness is in a classroom. I'm used to coaching and being loud when teaching. Is that through jujitsu? Yes, through jujitsu. I learned how to be quiet and to correct quietly. And I also just learned how to teach in front of the classroom, picking up on those little things that she says, how she answers the questions and the deepness of the answers that she gives. So much knowledge, but also it's important. And she shows how important it is. And it just makes the students that much more curious.

SPEAKER_00 11:09

When you're running your own classroom, are there certain procedures that I know, so I know you've had different experiences in um teaching environments. Some that, and I I will say I've had similar as well, where there's a lot of yelling and a lot of screaming. That was actually my first year. I was with another teacher who was an experienced teacher. She was 20 years older than me. She did a lot of screaming and yelling. And unfortunately, we were in a situation where I was, we were in the same environment, the same classroom, and my students got very used to that. And so um, that was difficult. It was a difficult habit to break. And I vowed the following year, I said, I'm gonna be a law into myself. I'm going to whisper when I'm disciplining. It changed the entire atmosphere of the classroom. I'm just curious. I know you've had both experiences now. And I think you even said when you went to Miss Letter, like, I didn't know that was an option to, you know, you you thought it was normal that, you know, you maybe just use a loud voice. But when you heard a whisper, which what are you gonna adapt? What is what is the uh the tone you're gonna have in your classroom?

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Definitely a whisper. That was my goal going into this classroom. Um, you said to me at the start of it, you're just like, Miss Leonard is a phenomenal teacher, and we just need more of that. And so I was like, I'm going to watch what Miss Leonard does, and I am going to do that. And so throughout it, I learned that how to be quiet, but then also how to use my excitement when I coach and take that into teaching and to be excited when I'm teaching a lesson.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

That's wonderful. So you came into this internship with maybe just an interest in classical education, but safe to say you probably didn't know a lot about classical education. Most people don't as they come in. Um, but now you've had the opportunity to see it lived every single day. So I'm curious, but how you think now about education differently? Classical education versus all the other options out there. And tell us a little bit about your perception of classical now.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

The students at Lafayette Academy and in classical education are learning how to learn. And the students at other schools are not, and they're learning how to memorize and for a test, and then how to use AI on assignment. The students at our school at Lafayette Academy, they understand the importance of learning and they love to learn, and that is the biggest difference that I have seen, and that just makes it that much more exciting to teach.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

You had mentioned that you sort of fell back in love with learning coming into the school.

unknown 13:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:41

Tell me where were you, and then where are you now in that, you know, loving to learn process? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Um, I went to um a public school, and it was just a typical public school experience. You go through your classes, you just pass, you know, you don't really walk out with any sort of information or knowledge that you might use in the future. For example, I was taking a government final and just like, what did you learn? And my teacher was like, it doesn't really, it doesn't really matter what you put, just put whatever you need. And I wrote the preamble, which I did not learn in my government class, I learned at Lafayette. And just those little things where I get to be excited about learning something new and about understanding.

SPEAKER_00 14:30

I think human and I will say I was not classically trained. And through my own, we homeschooled classically, and that's where I fell in love with it. Um, but what I have found is just having the knowledge. Um, you know, human beings want to know things. That's what we're we're here to do. We're here to know things, we're here to know what is true, what is good, what is beautiful, and then bring that into our lives so that we can have a good life. I I understand, I think, what you've said in terms of just that process of learning can it really does bring you back alive, uh, alive. And it's um it's sort of having a rebirth, if you will, you know. So you have said that throughout your experience here that this has changed you both professionally and personally. And I wondered if you could share maybe two or three ways in which this experience, you you even went to say this has changed my life. Yeah. Can you tell us maybe on the personal side and maybe on the professional side how it has changed you?

SPEAKER_01 15:27

I have never learned more in that amount of time than I have learned. I remember when I first started, I was just like, you know, I'm in the right place because I'm around all these people who are smarter than me. And I just have to search for the resources. And so it has changed me more than anything else has. And it has made me realize that my continuous actions are a part of my character. And that is something that we teach the kids that I think is very important too.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

How about on the personal side? You had mentioned how you you said that you've learned so much this last year, and that's that is, I think, uh par for the course with classical education. There's so it's so rich. Um, has it changed you in terms of how you approach learning in general?

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Yeah. Or research or whenever I was getting ready to teach my lessons, I found myself being curious about what I was about to teach. And so as I'm reading through the textbook, I'm asking myself these questions. And just that curiosity, while learning is not something I've ever experienced before. Um, it's always been about memorizing the facts that are in front of me and not truly understanding and asking myself why something may have happened. And so throughout that, I just continued to ask myself questions, and that resulted in being able to teach it better and being able to look in the textbook, but also say and ask questions and get them to think, and then being able to answer those questions.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

I I love that. I love that you have found yourself asking more questions of yourself. And I remember when you did your lesson for us, you on the flip side, when we were debriefing, you were saying, Yeah, I was curious about the subject matter too. And you had done further research, which does give it rounds out your knowledge, but then when you present it, it gives you even more authority on that subject. And of course, if the kids ask questions, you know, you can hopefully readily answer that. There is the other side too, and I remember teaching my first year in classical education, and um, I knew enough to teach, but there were times when they would ask me questions and I did not know the answer. And so that was actually an opportunity for me to emulate what I wanted them to do, which was great question. I'll go find the answer and I'll come back to you. Um, and oftentimes I'd be, you know, grading papers, but then I'd also be doing my own research as to what is that answer. And I found myself growing exponentially as well, which um is always a joy. One of the things that has impressed all of us at Lafayette, but me in particular, is been your initiative as you have gone through this internship. Before we were even able to, I think when we sat down one of our first sessions, I shared with you that Hillsdale College has a number of these online resources. And I remember you saying, oh, that would be great. And there was one in particular, I was like, oh, this one would be a good one. It's it's, you know, 12 sessions, 12 lectures, maybe 10 to 15 hours worth of content. And I said, I'll get you the link. You went home. I think you did the research. And before I could even get to my computer that night, I think you had emailed me saying, I got the link. I'm good. I'm already into the first session. So I'm curious what motivated you to dig in so quickly? Because that was really at the beginning of everything. And and I've seen that continually from you is that you you just you dive in quickly and and you're excited to move. Why, why is that?

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Seeing teachers around me know as much as they did. Um, whenever I'm given a resource, I am ready to just gain that knowledge. And so that was something you had mentioned to me. And I know the importance of learning through Hillsdale. And so I was just excited, you know, that was just excitement to learn and to get my questions answered.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

That's wonderful. Well, what I also then was impressed when we met later on was not only had you been doing, so there's a lecture for those who haven't done it, there's a lecture, and then there's a test and a quiz. And so you go through the quiz. And you came to our meeting and you had a notebook full of copious notes that you had taken on these lectures. And it sounds to me like maybe you have a couple journals now worth of that's unusual, just so you know. I love it and I wish it were normal, but that is definitely unusual. Um, and it, I think it just shows it gives, it gives you, um, in my mind, it just shows how serious you are about your own education. Um, and of course, there's a plethora of of lectures to choose from. Um, but frankly, it inspired me to see how excited you were and how you were really taking in the knowledge. You were making it your own and inculcating it even in the lessons you were teaching. Um, so anyway, I was just, I was excited to see that you were so excited. That kind of talks about here, the student being the student and and and becoming a master of your craft. Obviously, teaching well requires humility and attention and a willingness to keep learning, which is kind of at the core of who you are, it sounds like to me and what I've observed. I'm curious what you have learned about uh being a student yourself, and maybe that's something we've already talked about. But is there anything additional you want to add to that? Um, where you are a teacher, but in essence, you are also the student.

SPEAKER_01 20:36

You have to be a student before you are a teacher. I mean, I can even see it when in 10 years from now, I'm going to still be a student and I'm still going to be learning. And that's just the beauty of it. We're not gonna be all knowing and we're not gonna know it all. And that that's what makes it exciting.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Right now I'm the student, but I'm also gonna be the student in 10 years, and I'm also gonna be asking Miss Leonard questions, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

So that's wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Something I did learn was being able to say, listen, I don't I don't know these phonograms that these second graders know. Please teach me.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

To a second grader? To or to Miss Leonard. Miss Leonard. Uh-huh. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:16

In order to teach.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

Yes, right.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

And it that was something that was so beautiful to see was at the beginning of the year I had my sheet and I was figuring out all the sounds of A, but by the end of the year, I was teaching literacy lessons on the on the go. Um, last minute, teaching literacy lessons. So that was just the beauty of it was being the student at first, but then being able to teach that by the end of the year.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Yeah, that's awesome. Has I'm just curious with the phonograms, has that impacted your life at all knowing those phonograms? Obviously, you I wasn't taught the phonograms, you weren't taught, obviously. So, how has that impacted your life just knowing now the 72 sounds of the English language?

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Just in little things. Why does school have ch? I never knew before, and now I do.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Tell us why.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

So the three sounds it makes the CH does all from different um different countries, right? Different languages. Yeah. So um, so just knowing that is just it is helpful.

unknown 22:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

And then when you see a word that has that and you try to phonetically say it, you can try those different sounds to maybe think what would make sense or what have you heard in the past. Or no, if you know it's from the German, right? Or or the French, you can you know what sound that would be.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

Even in math the other day at school, I was on my calculator. I was looking at it, and I was like, this is not English, this is Latin. And I don't, I don't know how I knew, but I knew from some sort of pattern that I learned through phonograms. And I looked it up, and sure enough, it was Latin. And I even asked my teacher before that, I was like, is this Latin? He was like, I don't, I don't know why you're talking about Latin in a math class. And I was just like, okay. And so I just went and I looked it up.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

But then you were curious, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. Just little things like that. That's fantastic. And it is, it's like, it's almost like this mysterious puzzle, but it's all connected. Yeah. And when you, and I think with a classical education, when you have more and more and more knowledge, you see these pieces uh connecting and it makes this beautiful picture. Yeah, that's awesome. Let's get to Miss Leonard's influence real quick. If you had to name one or two lessons that Miss Leonard has given that that has given to you that you hope to now carry into your classroom, what would it be? Just one or two? I know she's taught you so much. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

The consistency. Um when teaching specifically literacy, you have to be consistent and you have to understand literacy. In history, you are able to find the answers and you aren't going to know everything in that. In literacy, it's very important that you are ready for those lessons and you are ready to answer everything in this in those lessons because you are teaching them how to spell, and those are those are patterns that they are learning when they are reading and writing. So definitely the consistency when it comes to literacy, and then also just um overall, just the questions and being able to answer questions for my students, but also being able to ask questions for myself because I am a student before I am a teacher. And so that is something that I'm definitely going to continue to do is before my lessons. I am going to look through it and I am going to ask myself those questions.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

Yeah, that's great. I think having your own curiosity um fostering your lesson planning is great because you're thinking, well, what do I want to know? And maybe the kids will want to know that as well. And it'll it'll add so much richness to your own classes. Thinking ahead, looking ahead, um, as you think about continuing to serve students and at Lafayette, what excites you most about the opportunity to teach uh first grade this next year and uh specifically through classical education?

SPEAKER_01 25:10

Through classical education is where I feel I belong to teach. I couldn't see myself teaching anywhere else, knowing that I am going to impact kids in a way that I wasn't impacted, just making that impact on students and teaching students how to learn.

SPEAKER_00 25:31

Yes, that's wonderful. Well, I would say that in your story, I hear a beautiful combination of your natural giftedness, your humility, being being coachable, which is um an incredible asset as a teacher, and of course your eagerness to learn, all of that culminating, it will add such a wonderful, satisfying element to your teaching career as you continue to grow. And as we look ahead, we are grateful to be able to watch you grow as well and to support you in that process. As we head up to Hillsdale here in June, um it's a great opportunity to be a student. Um, I think that's one of the most enriching and uh energy-giving times of the year is when teachers can kind of sit back and just start to absorb and just let more knowledge soak in. And then we get invigorated to come back and to share it. So thank you for joining us. Thank you for joining us as well. And if you found this podcast inspiring, please share it with others. And until then, we look forward to seeing you on the next episode of the Lady K podcast.