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Can you tell us about yourself? 

Hi everyone. My name is Kendal Gable. I currently teach in Dayton ISD at Richter elementary, second grade. It is a wonderful school and I have taught there for three years. And I taught kindergarten the first two years that I was there. 

Why did you start a career in education?

I started a career in education because when I graduated, I went into oil and gas and hated it. Quickly realized that a desk job was not for me. So I switched to education and I've loved every bit of it.

If you could have any other job what would it be and why?

If I could have any other job, what would it be and why? Teaching is definitely the job that I want there, isn't another one that I could think of that I want. I plan on moving up in education. So hopefully, maybe becoming a principal one day, our principal one day, um, or like an instructional coach or, um, that kind of field.

How are kids different than they were 30 years ago?

I was not alive 30 years ago, but I will say the biggest difference I would say is technology. Kids live on technology these days, which has been beneficial to us with COVID because they are familiar with computers and iPads and things like that, but definitely, that's different than how it used to be.

How is teaching different than it was 30 years ago?

How has teaching different now than 30 years ago? Teaching is more, it's more demanding, honestly. It's the discipline is different. You have to be careful like what you're saying to the kids, how you're disciplining the kids. Kids are disciplined at home differently, so it just makes things different here at school. So I would say definitely one of the biggest differences is just how kids have been raised and the ways that we can handle behaviors at school.

What would you tell someone who wants to become a teacher?

We could always use more teachers and, you know, a lot of people told me negatives about teaching and I guess every job has negatives, but like it's the most rewarding job you will have. So I would definitely say do it.

What would you change to help kids learn better?

I would change the student teacher ratio.  like right now I have two classes. I've split classes. One has 22 and one has just the differentiation between the kids and how they learn. It's just kind of a lot. I would say like 15 kids per class would be, um, more beneficial in order to increase learning. So I appreciate it. I can't wait to get these headphones for my kids. And I look forward to doing this more. Thank you.