SuperStar Teacher — Teacher Kelly Anne — Interview
This week’s SuperStar Teacher is Teacher Kelly Anne. It is so nice to learn about Kelly Anne and her experience with VIPKID and FeedbackPanda this week. She is a very interesting person! I hope you enjoy getting to know her a bit more.
Tell us about yourself Kelly Anne:
I have 2 pups that love to sleep at my feet while I teach! I am pregnant with our first child and can’t wait to get my baby involved with VIPKid through Lingobus once they’re old enough! I enjoy doing yoga in my free time, sipping champagne (when not pregnant), and getting crafty! I’d love to connect with others online.
My personal Instagram account is @AppleSlices.LLC and my VIPKid teacher account is @Vipkid.Teachers. DM me and let me know what you love to do and how you check in with yourself during the teaching process!
Tricks for staying alert: Water and LOTS of coffee ! I also love those little pouches of blended fruit. I know they’re for toddlers but the protein in them gives me a great energy boost and they make me feel great!
Favorite Lesson to teach: Anything with dogs so I can share my puppers on the screen! :) Students love it and so do I!
What do you do in between classes? Make more coffee and walk my dogs … they love No Shows just as much as I do!
How do you use FeedbackPanda? I typically enter my information and pray that I’ve taught that class and student before and have everything saved 😂 If I do — YAY!! If not, I love using the feedback templates to make my own. It’s so nice to see what other teachers do for feedback and adjust pieces as necessary.
Describe your Feedback Style/Structure: I like to provide supportive and encouraging feedback. I start with at least 2 positives and what our objective was in class. Then I like to give them something to practice in between class. I try to provide a simple and easy way to do this (maybe point out all the fruits in the grocery store or name colors around the house, with an example “the wall is blue”, etc)
Good Feedback Must Contain… Simple language! The translation loses and changes a lot. Using words that are simple and have only one meaning (no homophones!) make it much easier for parents to understand what we’re trying to say… and that’s the goal!
What do you like to see when checking the Teacher to Teacher Feedback? I like to see tips for helping the student grow, such as “Lisa does much better when the sentence structure is typed into the text box” or “Linda loves drawing as her reward. She will work hard if you draw a garden together”
Notes or comments to the teachers who import your templates? Yay! I hope they are as helpful to you as other teachers’ templates are for me!
Any other comments you wish to communicate… I think this job is the best little side gig. I love meeting up with my regulars and getting to see a small bit of their day in China! It makes me happy when they’re happy. Unfortunately I started to get burnt out about a month ago. I have since cut back my hours significantly and am much happier. I highly recommend checking in with yourself from time to time and making sure your job satisfaction is still high. Working from home has plenty of challenges and it’s important to make sure you’re checking in with how you’re doing each day and then listening to that and honoring it. The best part of VIPKid is that you set your own schedule. Honor this part and make it work for your and what your body needs.
