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Can you tell us about yourself? 

"Hi. My name's Laura Isbell. I'm a special education teacher at Mountain Trails Elementary in Utah. I've been at the school for three years and I've been teaching for 10 years now." 

Why did you start a career in education?

"I started a career in education because I liked the idea of having the same schedule as my kids at home and it was a way for me to make money for our family." 

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

"Um, this is the only job that I want to do. If I could have any other job, I don't know what I would pick to do. Maybe I would pick to just be a volunteer or an aid at a school if money wasn't a factor cause I just loved working with kids. So it's fun." 

How are kids different now than 30 years ago?

 "I think that kids are a little more entitled than they probably were 30 years ago. Um, I've seen that parents aren't as likely to hold their own children responsible and they're more likely to kind of try to blame everyone else for their kids as problems. So that's one difference between 30 years ago."

How is teaching different now than 30 years ago?

"Teaching now is definitely different than it was back then for one thing, because of all the technology that we have now and kids when they're even at home, they're using technology all the time, so I feel like that's something we really need to make sure we're incorporating into our classrooms here at school. If someone asked me right now that they were thinking about becoming a teacher, what would I tell them? I would tell them to do it. It's the most rewarding career. Watching kids learn something new, seeing that light come on, they're on in their eyes when they figure something out for the first time or a concept finally makes sense, is so much fun. Um, it's a great career. I do it for sure." 

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

"If someone asked me right now that they were thinking about becoming a teacher, what would I tell them? I would tell them to do it. It's the most rewarding career. Watching kids learn something new, seeing that light come on, they're on in their eyes when they figure something out for the first time or a concept finally makes sense, is so much fun. Um, it's a great career. I do it for sure." 

What is one thing you would change to help kids learn better?

"One thing that I would change to help kids learn better is just make sure that the kids have plenty of time to wiggle and get around and move. I know that kids spend a lot of time on their phones or on their iPads or laptops or whatever, and they don't move around as much as they did 30 years ago. But I also still believe that that's really, really important to keep your brain, keep your brain going. So I would make sure that we still had enough time at our schools for that physical activity and movement that kids need, and they would also make sure that all kids had more access to technology, which is kind of funny after saying that they need more time to move around, but if it could be one to one laptops or iPads or something for all students, I think that would be the ideal. Studying for education these days. And that's a little bit about me. Thanks."