Day Four of ATD Employee Learning Week is Here — Celebrate it With Krista Tyler
This post is the fourth of a series highlighting the Round Rock ISD team members who were most recognized by their peers as the people from whom they learn the most. We are showcasing these individuals each day during ATD Employee Learning Week, Dec. 5th-8th. Visit www.pd.roundrockisd.org to view all 300 recognitions.
If you know Round Rock ISD Instructional Technology Specialist (ITS) Krista Tyler, then you would be shocked to learn that she did not grow up dreaming of being a teacher. Lucky for us, she spent one of her summer breaks at Texas A&M as an advisor at Camp Adventure with 8 and 9 year olds. “After spending a summer there, I thought ‘Wow, I need to be working with kids,’” Tyler tells us. She changed her major to education that fall.
One of Tyler’s many strengths lies in her ability to make her audience feel at ease while teaching complicated material. “I’ve heard Round Rock ISD staff from Schools & Innovation, Teaching & Learning, Operations, and Finance, compliment her approach to delivering training and they often request she leads more sessions,” Ryan Smith, Director of Professional Development says.
“I never even thought about being an ITS,” Tyler says, “but Shannon Seiber (Deerpark MS ITS) gave me the confidence to apply.” So, four years ago Tyler left her Deerpark MS 8th grade Language Arts classroom, and she has been leading instructional technology for staff and students at McNeil HS ever since.
We asked Tyler who she turns to on a day-to-day basis for professional learning and she was quick to praise her fellow ITS team both an McNeil and around Round Rock ISD. She also called out Pam Scarborough, Assistant Director of Assessment and Accountability, and Cedar Valley teacher Amy Margulies as two fellow RRISD staff members who make her better at her job.
Tyler credits Teaching With Poverty in Mind and Work Rules! as two books that influence her way of thinking regarding how she works with students and within an organization. She also sees Twitter and joining education-related Twitter Chats as driving forces in shaping her work. “It’s so nice to see that there are other teachers working through the same problems and creating solutions together is really fun,” Tyler says.
“If I could go back and talk to myself as a first-year teacher I would tell myself to take a breath and calm down because it is not as hard as you are making it. If you connect with the kids, then it will all be ok. You know what you are talking about! I really wish I would have spent more time connecting with those kids alongside teaching English,” Tyler tells us. Walk through the halls of McNeil HS though during a passing period and see the number of students who light up when she walks by, and you’ll see that Tyler quickly started building those connections.
In closing, Tyler tells us that she’s so glad that what she says matters to people in their daily work and her last piece of advice is to remember that our business is kids. We want to thank Tyler for taking the time to sit down with us to celebrate Employee Learning Week and we encourage everyone to join us in honoring her work in the comments below.
