About Amy Andrew
Amy Andrew was born and raised in Red Deer, Alberta. At the age of 18, she became an Education Assistant working both for Red Deer Catholic and Red Deer Public School Divisions. After a decade of working in schools with various age groups, she has returned to finish her education program.
Amy grew up with the challenge of epilepsy and a learning disability. Despite these challenges, she has been able to overcome many obstacles, and because of this, she knows what it’s like to be in the student’s shoes who struggle. She wants all students to be able to believe in themselves and know that a disability doesn’t mean it’s the end. It just means you got to work a little bit harder.
Connect with Amy: Email
Listen Now
Listen to the episode now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or on your favourite podcast platform.
Resources Mentioned
Red Deer Public Schools Divisions
Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools
The Power of Vulnerability by Brené Brown
The Transcript
**Please note that all of our transcriptions come from rev.com and are 80% accurate. We’re grateful for the robots that make this possible and realize that it’s not a perfect process.
Sam Demma (00:56):
Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator Podcast.
Sam Demma (01:00):
This is your host and youth speaker, Sam Demma. Today’s special guest is Amy Andrew. Amy was born and raised in Red Deer, Alberta. At the age of 18, she became an Education Assistant, working both in the Red Deer Catholic and Red Deer Public School divisions. After a decade of working in schools with various age groups, she has returned to finish her education program. Amy grew up with the challenge of epilepsy and a learning disability. Despite these challenges, she has been able to overcome many obstacles, and because of this, she knows what it’s like to be in the student’s shoes that struggle. She wants all students to be able to believe in themselves and know that a disability doesn’t mean it’s the end, it just means that you have to work a little bit harder. I hope you enjoy this amazing conversation with Amy Andrew, and I will see you on the other side. Welcome back to another episode of the High Performing Educator podcast. This is your host and youth speaker, Sam Demma. Today we have a very special guest. Her name is Amy Andrew. Amy, welcome to the show. Please start by introducing yourself.
Amy Andrew (02:06):
Hi. Well thank you for having me. My name is Amy Andrew. I’m an Education Assistant for the Red Deer Public School Division, and I work in a middle school currently.
Sam Demma (02:18):
When did you realize you wanted to work in education with kids in, within schools?
Amy Andrew (02:26):
I, well, first off, I struggled with school myself. I have a coding issue in math. I have a learning disability when it comes to reading, writing, comprehension, all basically all of it. <laugh>, <laugh>. so for when I was in school, it was not enjoyable. It was a really difficult time for me. I struggled. I was frustrated constantly, but I also was very social. So I was able to kind of advocate for myself and see what works for me. So when it came to picking a career or finding something I wanted to do I thought, well, being an education assistant allows me to show these kids what I’ve learned throughout my life. And I genuinely understand how difficult school is because that is me. I, I still am that kid that struggles, but I have great coping styles and great skills that I’ve had to learn throughout the years that I try to pass on to them.
Sam Demma (03:29):
Ah, that’s so amazing. it must be really rewarding to help students who might be going through difficult situations. Being that, you know, you had similar experiences when you were growing up. how do you kind of help a student, or what are some of those skills or coping tech techniques that you could share? Because I’m sure not every, you know, person that works with young people has a toolkit that they say like, Hey, you know, this might work for this student. They might not have an idea of what they could share. So I’m curious to know, like what are some of the things that you would share with a student who might be struggling right now?
Amy Andrew (04:02):
Yeah, absolutely. well first off, when it comes to reading a lot of the time kids will have trouble understanding what they’ve read, the comprehension component of it. So what I always say is, what if you just took all the pressure off reading the proper words? What if you just listen to it? Hmm. Can you, do you understand what’s being read to you when it’s just, you just have to focus on listening? And most of the time kids do. So that’s my first part is like, forget trying to struggle through reading the big words. Let’s listen to the book. And I do that in college too. Like I’m currently halfway through my education degree. Again, it’s taking me a little bit longer cuz it’s a little bit more difficult for me. That’s ok. But all my textbooks, all my literature I have to read is an audio version because I have to keep busy.
Amy Andrew (04:53):
But then I can also still listen to my books and understand what I need to do for the course. So I say that to kids, I said, Let’s listen to books. the second one is always voice to text. Kids find it very hard to write. They don’t know how to form sentence structures. A lot of the time it’s this texting style of writing and that’s totally fine. But when it comes to writing essays, they’re gonna need to know how to do that. So I say, get your phone out, get a Google Doc open and walk around and talk, talk to your phone. Just get it out what you need to say. And then we’re gonna go back and we’re gonna edit it so it sounds proper, like a proper English essay rather than, so hey girlfriend. So <laugh>. But a lot of times kids don’t even know where to start with it.
Amy Andrew (05:39):
So I’m like, just talk, tell me what you’re thinking and then we’ll go in and add quotes and then we’ll go in and, and put the commas where it needs to be. And so that’s, that would be my second one. And my math skills is, and this is different and not a lot of people know this, but when I look at numbers, I see dots. So if I see a three, I see 1, 2, 3 down in a linear line. Hmm. Because a lot of the time when you were li when I was little, I didn’t like counting on my hands. I was really obvious I was struggling and I didn’t want people to see I was struggling or making tallies on my paper. So I started counting the points on each number that I had to add or multiply or divide. So I try to teach kids that skill so that way I’m like, you’re struggling and that’s okay, but if you don’t want people to know or if you’re trying to mask it a little bit, let me show you how I used to do it. So those would be like my three big heavy hitters of what I try to help kids with. But yeah.
Sam Demma (06:43):
That’s awesome. I was gonna say, I think it’s so cool that you also listen to audio books. I think it’s actually more effective sometimes to listen anyway. so you’re definitely onto something with that. do you listen to your books while you work out in the gym?
Amy Andrew (06:59):
<laugh>? Actually all the time. I listen to books when I’m cleaning. I listen to books while I work out when I walk. Oh. All the time. And you know what, I get stuff done and I actually think I’m absorbing the information better because I’m busy. Nice. So yeah.
Sam Demma (07:13):
Cool. Aside from your own parents who work in education, did you have who must be a big support in your life, do you ha did you have any educators growing up who played a significant role in your own, like personal and professional development? And if so, who are those people and what did they do for you that you think made a big impact?
Amy Andrew (07:33):
okay. Well funny enough, on my 25th first birthday I ended up writing to each 25 different people in my life. That event changed my life. And most of them were teachers. And so I did reach out to a lot of them at that time. But a few that come to my mind right away is one Justin Ffl, he was my grade five teacher for social studies. And that was the first time in my life I ever felt intelligent. And I think you need to have that with like, you need to have that early on in your education. You need to feel like, okay, I can, I can actually do this. Like this is me, I can do this. Because then that excites you to learn and motivates you to keep going rather than constant failure. After failure after failure, then you get so discouraged. So he was the first teacher and I remember it was our first nation’s buffalo parts of the body unit and I got 81% and I was like, Whoa,
Sam Demma (08:35):
<laugh>.
Amy Andrew (08:36):
It was just so awesome for me. And that was how I left elementary school. So going into middle school, I was like, Okay, I can do this, I can do this. I’m, I’m smart, it’s gonna be harder, but I’m smart so I can do this. And then I think the next one would be Sherry Schultz ski. So what she was was my math teacher in high school twice <laugh>. So I had her twice. I went in every lunch hour and was like, I don’t get it. I know you explained it <laugh>, but I don’t get it <laugh>. I just give that woman so much grace for sitting with me almost every lunch hour in grade 10 and 11 to help me with my math homework because I was just struggling. But that’s, that’s the other thing. Kids don’t wanna go and ask for help. But the thing is, these teachers, that’s their job. They want to help they, and you build a connection with a student when you sit down and work one on one and then they’re there for you to help kind of give you little boost need on the days where you’re not doing so great. So I always encourage kids, I’m like, go in, get help. Also, you get to stay inside when it’s cold out. Bonus <laugh>. So yeah, those would be the two teachers I can think of right now that we’re really impactful in my life.
Sam Demma (09:53):
That’s so cool. I think the self-belief piece is so important because whether or not a student remembers the curriculum you taught them in class or the specific lessons you shared, if you help a young person believe in themselves, that will be an applicable skill that they’ll carry with them no matter what task is in front of them for the rest of their life. You know, if they believe they can figure out the math problem, even though it’s very difficult, they’re gonna believe they can figure out other challenging things in their future outside of the classroom walls. So I think the, the self-belief piece is, has been a huge part of my life and the educators who have made a big difference on me as well. So thank you so much for sharing. yeah. Do you stay in touch with them or are some of them aside from sending them letters on your birthday <laugh>?
Amy Andrew (10:39):
I do. Well, being in the education system now I’m in the public and I grew up in the Catholic division, but I will see them at schools and it’s, or out walking, I’ll see Mrs. Schultz, the walking. I’m like, there’s just, it’s just that is, they inspired me to be that person for someone else. And I think that’s the cool part of built being a teacher. Your legacy is endless because not only are you inspiring people and you don’t even know who you’re inspiring or who you’re connecting with or who you like, who you are impacting, It’s who you are as a person. And that is what’s impacting other people to go out and be that for someone else. And so I think that’s the coolest part about teaching is like, you don’t even know until later and you’re like, Oh, okay. Cool.
Sam Demma (11:28):
<laugh>. It’s so true. It sounds like the teachers you mentioned build relationships with you. You mentioned that, you know, when you’d stay after school and ask for a help, you’d build these really tight relationships and then they’d push you when you needed a little bit of a push. How do you think you build a relationship with young people as a someone who works with them?
Amy Andrew (11:49):
I personally, I think this might be my strongest asset because I find a lot of people, a lot of adults talk to kids and teens. they talk almost down to them sometimes. And when these kids are growing up in such an adult environment, unfortunately that’s just how it is. Yeah. So instead of harping on them and disciplining them, I often approach with what’s going on. Mm. Because let’s talk like adults cuz you wanna be treated like an adult. I I wanna be treated like an adult, so let’s talk, figure this out to move forward. Cause that’s how we deal with things in real life. We don’t fight, we don’t argue, we don’t discipline. We have a conversation. So that’s how I approach everything with the kids I work with or the teens I work with. And, and that is when you find common interest or common ground, while I’m struggling with, I hate math.
Amy Andrew (12:44):
Math is the worst class. Literally same. I actually literally same. I get it. But like I had to do it. You gotta do it. So let’s figure out how we can get this figured out together. Cause you, you know what, And I always say, and I’m always honest, I’m like, you know what, you might not ever love this ever. And that is fine, but you’re gonna need to know some skills to get through life. And if you know some skills, you’re gonna be okay. But if you’re gonna shut that door and not listen to what anyone has to say, it’s gonna be hard. So you pick your path, you can learn a little bit, make it easy, shut the door and it’s over.
Sam Demma (13:22):
So
Amy Andrew (13:24):
It’s kind of choices, it’s kind of, it’s just giving them the respect and the ground to tell you what they need to say and then re re rooting or rewiring how they see it and how they think about it.
Sam Demma (13:36):
Hmm. I love that perspective. I feel like your age helps as well. You probably like Yeah. You know, one of the more relatable people in their lives, <laugh> which is, which is really cool. tell me about a story where you saw a student who maybe was struggling a little bit and through their interactions with yourself and other members in the school community, they were able to kind of chart themselves on a slightly different path or almost like transform. And I know you’ve only been in education for a little bit, so it’s new. but if there are any stories like that of students that come to mind, please feel free to share them. I I think one of the thing teachers, and not just teachers, but anyone who impacts and influences youth, like love being reminded of is the impact that their actions can have on a young mind. Especially when they might be feeling a little bit burnt out because that’s typically the main reason why they got into the work in the first place. so I’m just curious, like, do you have any of those stories or like, do any of them come to mind?
Amy Andrew (14:37):
Yeah, I would say the most life changing one for me is I started with a student who was no longer allowed to be in a building with other kids. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, he was a danger to himself and to other people. So I, I started working with this individual at their house and to go from working in a house, I mean, here’s the other thing. It takes time and I think that’s what teachers forget sometimes is it does, it’s not an overnight fix. It’s not even like a next year fix. They might even be outta your building before you see any type of change in this student. Mm. But know what you’re doing in the moment with them is worth something. And so rather than going halfway in, you need to go all in with that kid because a lot of the time kids need you to need to see that you show up day after day for them.
Amy Andrew (15:31):
Because a lot of the time people give up on them and that is why they act the way they act. So when you don’t feel like being there and putting up with the garbage that you’re getting from that kid that day, you still gotta, you still gotta be there fully. But, so that was with this student I worked with, it was four years. Four years. We went from an hour a day working together and not allowed, not a lot of curricular activity. It was a lot of play-based learning, which was difficult for me because you often think too, Oh, I need them to be at a certain point, but that’s not where they’re at right now. You need to meet them where they’re at in order to move them forward. And that’s hard for people to understand because when a kid has a disability like autism, let’s say their, their moment, like where they’re at now is where they’re at now.
Amy Andrew (16:22):
Even though they might have been able to do something months ago, that doesn’t mean that’s where they’re at today. So you need to always meet the kid at where they’re at now. And so with this student, we went from an hour today, hour a day working on non-curricular activity to, he’s in high school this year without an ea. He’s full, full-time school <laugh>. Yeah. It was a very, they always said to me too, his parents and they’re like, You’ve changed our kids’ life. And I’m like, you’ve changed minds. Like this kid has taught me so much about being patient, being understanding, Oh, I’m gonna get emotional. Oh my gosh. It’s, but that’s how powerful, It’s like you don’t always see it. You don’t always take a step back and go, Huh. Yeah, I might have, I might have changed that kid’s life, but he, he changed mine just as much. So, Yeah. And then you feel, you feel hopeful that you got to see this progress, you got to see this happen in someone’s life. And, and maybe I could do that again. Maybe I could do that for someone else. Yeah. So it inspires you to keep going.
Sam Demma (17:25):
I was gonna ask like, what keeps you motivated and hopeful on the days where maybe you don’t have those warm, fuzzy feelings in your chest and you’re not remembering the impact that you’ve created, but only see the obstacles standing in your path.
Amy Andrew (17:42):
yeah. I, I struggled with that for a little bit too because obviously not every day is sunshine, roses, <laugh>. you work at a middle, middle school, not,
Amy Andrew (17:52):
But I often have to leave everything at the door. Right. Cause if I’m not taking care of myself, I can’t give fully back to these kids. Yeah. And so if I have a bad day and it’s not going well, I always, and almost to a fault. But it’s ingrained to me every day is a fresh day regardless of what happened the previous day. And so that is how I try to live in our schools. And even when there’s been a violent outburst, I’ve always had this role for myself. If I was not mentally in the right state to be going back the next day, I would, because again, I wanted to show this child or this person, no matter what I’m showing up because I wanna show to you that I’m not giving up no matter how hard you’re pushing me out. Cause that is not who I am. I’m not giving up on you. So I would always make a role. You cannot take the next day as a sick day, but you could maybe take the following day,
Sam Demma (18:53):
<laugh>
Amy Andrew (18:56):
Nice. Cause they
Sam Demma (18:57):
Dunno anything. Yeah. But
Amy Andrew (18:59):
Right. But now what motivates me is just, you know what, knowing that there’s always going to be someone that needs you. Yeah. There’s always going to, and it doesn’t have to be a kid you’re working with directly. It could be the kid you say hi to in the hallway. Cause I’ve had kids say that to me, but it’s you yesterday. Like, I literally say hi to you once it’s <laugh>. So, but you never know who’s looking forward to seeing you at the school. So to show up for even the ones you don’t think about that, that’s you’re there for them present too.
Sam Demma (19:30):
Mm. How do you make sure that you take care of yourself so that you can pour into others? Like what are some of your self care habits or things that you try and do to make sure you can be your full self at work?
Amy Andrew (19:45):
Well, I do kickboxing, so I know I can fight them. I’m just kidding. I’m just kidding.
Sam Demma (19:48):
<laugh> damn. They’re only, they’re only in middle school. Amy realize <laugh>,
Amy Andrew (19:53):
They’re feisty. Oh yeah, they’re feisty. no, I, I work out a lot. I weightlift, I do kickboxing, I do Pilates. I mean, I’ve grown up in a very active household, so it’s like inevitable. but I’m also a big time swimmer, so I swim open water and I love, love swimming open water because it’s this wide open space. Anything can happen. You’re going everywhere. And nowhere <laugh> it’s just, it’s, it’s such an exhilarating feeling being out in the open water. So that is what I love to do personally and everything just kind of fades away when I’m working out. Yeah,
Sam Demma (20:32):
That’s good. Do you watch your mom’s YouTube videos too?
Amy Andrew (20:35):
I sometimes, I mean, I basically helped her with all of them. So <laugh>.
Sam Demma (20:40):
That’s awesome. Cool. have you found any resources helpful throughout your own journey? Whether that be like videos, books, podcasts even like other people? I know you obviously mentioned teachers that had an impact on you when you were a kid, but what about like, right now in terms of like professional development?
Amy Andrew (21:01):
yeah, I, we do PD sessions with the school. but I really do love listening to being vulnerable. bene brown every nice, I feel like every educator talks
Sam Demma (21:15):
About,
Amy Andrew (21:16):
But I, I listen to her books. I listen to Dr. Jodi Carrington stuff and I, I like, I like real genuine people who bring their personal experiences to their studies and inspire people that way. I like, I like the authentic people, you know, authenticity.
Sam Demma (21:37):
Okay, cool. Nice. Love it. if you could, how long have you been in working in classrooms now?
Amy Andrew (21:45):
This will be nine years.
Sam Demma (21:49):
Okay. If you could like, bundle up all your experiences working in classrooms with kids travel back nine years and <laugh> and talk to your younger self, but with the experience and all the wisdom you have now, what advice would you give Amy nine years ago when she was stepping into her first classroom to help out?
Amy Andrew (22:11):
Oh a kid will swear at you and you will be okay. No kidding. <laugh> <laugh> to not put such high expectations on how the day should go, because I found that that is what I did at the beginning. And I was disappointed because things don’t always go as planned, especially in a school, but you also need to leave your pride at the door. If something doesn’t go right, it’s not on you. You did everything you could, You’re still doing everything you can, you’re showing up. But not every day is going to be perfect. And that is okay. And I think that was something I had to learn throughout my years is I felt like it was my fault or I wasn’t doing everything I should have been doing or yeah. I just, I, I was disappointed with myself and how things turned out, but when you take that away, breathe and approach every day with just, it’s going to be a great day. We’re gonna try our best. We’re gonna small wins, small little victories. You gotta look for something good and everything, everything these kids do because even if it’s picking up their pencil without stabbing the person beside them <laugh>, that’s a win. Yeah.
Sam Demma (23:28):
That’s awesome. I love that. I I was thinking back to when you mentioned how you’re also working on your bachelor’s right now while you’re working in the classroom and you, you kind of were saying how it’s taken you a little long. And there was an educator that I spoke to one time, her name was Sarah, and she shared this analogy with me and it was like really powerful and I just wanna share it with you real quick. And everyone else who’s listening, she was like, No, imagine that you were going to your friend’s house party. Like think about all the ways that you could get to the party. And she’s like, you know, you could take an Uber, you could ask your parents to drive you, you could ride a bike, you could walk there, you could skateboard, you could try and hit your vibe with the pizza delivery person.
Sam Demma (24:08):
you could go on a scooter, you could chart a helicopter if you have some money <laugh>. but like, there’s so many different ways to get to the party. and you will arrive. But like every single option takes a different amount of travel time, effort, and energy. And if you keep your eyes focused on the final destination and forget about the fact that your timeline might look different than everybody else, and that you’re ju you know, you’re gonna arrive and you’re gonna do what it takes, it’s like you kind of stop worrying about, you know, the, the length of the journey and more so the final destination. And I feel like for a certain educators especially they might have an idea in their mind of like exactly what they wanna do and where they want to be and maybe they’re not getting there as quickly as possible. And that could be like a new position or a new school. and so just remember like you will arrive at the party. Everyone will, it just takes different times. <laugh> Yeah. And
Amy Andrew (25:02):
You emotional. Oh my gosh, you’re so right though. It’s, it is a journey for everyone. Everyone’s got different timing, but I always believe in divine timing. There is a reason. Yeah. I did not go into education right away, like as a teacher, it’s, I went in as an EA to gain this experience and this knowledge and a different outlook. And two, when I have a classroom, someday I will value my ea. So, so, so, so, so much. Yeah. Because I truly believe some of the most incredible women and or not women, people in our education world are education assistants. They’re like these superheroes HEROs about Yeah, they really are. They go above and beyond you. You don’t always see what they’re doing behind the scenes, but they are huge reasons. Some of these kids are so successful in our buildings is the EEAs are going outside of what they should be doing and doing work outside of the classroom at home on their own time. It’s amazing.
Sam Demma (26:03):
I just gotta give you a round of applause cuz you’re one of them. <laugh>. Yeah.
Amy Andrew (26:09):
Keep,
Sam Demma (26:10):
Keep up, keep up the great work. It’s so great to chat with you a little bit about some of your ideas around education, some of your beliefs around how to build relationships, with young people and hear some of the stories of people who played a big role in your own personal development and life. If someone’s listening to this, wants to reach out, ask you a question, start a conversation, what would be the best way for them to get in touch with you?
Amy Andrew (26:34):
They can contact me on my work email, which is amy.andrew@reddeerpublicschools.ca.
Sam Demma (26:47):
Okay. Awesome. Amy, thank you so much. Keep up with the great work.
Amy Andrew (26:50):
Thank you. You’re doing amazing too. Thank you so much for what you do and inspiring people everywhere. It’s awesome.
Sam Demma (26:56):
Appreciate it. Appreciate it. And yeah, we’ll talk soon.
Amy Andrew (27:00):
Sounds good, thanks.
Sam Demma (27:03):
I believe that educators deserve way more recognition, which is why I’ve created the High Performing Educator Awards. In 2022, 20 educator recipients will be shortlisted, each of whom will be featured in local press. invited to record an episode on the podcast, and spotlighted on our platform. In addition, the one handpicked winner will be presented with an engraved plaque by myself. I will fly to the winner’s city to present this to them and ask that they participate in a quick photo shoot and interview on location. The coolest part, nominations are open right now, and they close October 1st, 2022. So please take a moment to apply or nominate someone you know or work with that deserves this recognition. You can do so by going to www.highperformingeducator.com/award. We can never recognize educators enough.
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