Embracing the journey and preparing students for success
Updated: Oct 15, 2021
Impact Award winner Kevin Mackay equips his students with the learning tools they need and lays the groundwork for their success
Monsignor Clair Catholic Elementary School is a vibrant school community that strives for excellence and encourages students to become the best they can be. One award-winning teacher at the school, Kevin Mackay, incorporates this attitude into his classroom each day.
Although Kevin started his professional career as a Kinesiologist, he decided to change careers and become a teacher after running into his former cross country skiing coach in a grocery store. Kevin had always been inspired by this coach and admired the way he positively impacted his students' lives. This mirrored what Kevin believed he had inside him, so with the support of his wife, he re-trained and immersed himself in the world of education.
As an inspirational teacher himself, Kevin recounts that some of the best moments in teaching come from encountering students later on in their life and being thanked for guidance and direction.
Kevin is a teacher who is most satisfied when he has the tools and space to guide his students to success. Using resources like Knowledgehook, he identifies knowledge gaps and closes them through layered learning while also engaging and challenging his students by applying learning to real-life situations. According to Kevin, teaching is a profession where you lay the groundwork for students' futures which is something he manifests in his teaching strategies.
Believing very much in the power of highlighting students' successes, Kevin celebrates and rewards his students when they do well to motivate them and consolidate their learning. It comes as no surprise then that, for Kevin, the true joy he experiences from teaching comes from seeing his students have that 'Ah-ha!" moment.