Being a compassionate and engaged teacher in today’s education system is an incredibly difficult feat. Educators must simultaneously balance the needs of students, parents, and fellow staff with ease, all while maintaining their own needs. Aimee Scott, a third-grade teacher in Utah, has found beauty in this mad balancing act through incorporating technologies into her classroom and developing her own online persona in hopes of encouraging other teachers to become the best possible educators that they can be.
A Story of Compassion and Support
Aimee began her journey as an educator with many hurdles that she felt were insurmountable at first. “I didn’t have a ton of support, and those who were supposed to support me were negative. I really began to question if this whole teaching thing was for me.” In an effort to become a more focused and engaged teacher, Aimee began an Instagram page to both gather ideas from other teachers and record her own ideas that she wanted to implement for the next school year. “It started out as just wanting to share things that will help somebody, because teaching can be an isolating and lonely experience.”
Aimee subsequently switched schools and was met with newfound support. “My new school encouraged me to start a Tik Tok. I made a video about how I teach fairness to elementary school students, and the next thing I knew the video went viral and now has over 7 million views.” Aimee saw an incredible potential to create an engaged and compassionate community of educators that are focused on lifting other teachers up to offer the best possible education to her students.
Building a Thriving Community
Aimee has now amassed over 80,000 followers on Tik Tok which has not only pushed her to continually innovate with different technologies but also instilled a new sense of confidence in her teaching. “Coming from a place where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue on to now feel my confidence grow in my own ability is one of my favorite things…and all of that came through support and social media! I want to be the best that I can be for my students and that includes putting new exciting tech into the hands of these superstars.”
Since Aimee’s online career took off, she has realized that we must prepare students for the endless possibilities for careers that can come from future technological innovations. “In my very first education course, my professor told me that half the jobs that our students will have don’t even exist yet. This makes me want to give as much exposure to technology as I possibly can! Even though they are young and only in third grade, giving them access to technology is investing in their future successes!”
Pushing the Boundaries with OKIOCAM
One of Aimee’s favorite pieces of tech is of course the OKIOCAM! Aimee began using her OKIOCAM to demonstrate more difficult concepts to her classroom, but it morphed into so much more! She loves that the OKIOCAM is plug-and-play with little to no set-up because it doesn’t take any precious time away from presenting content to her students! “One thing that I love is that my students are much more engaged when I have the actual paper that they are working on. They are less distracted and want to be a part of the conversation.”
She loves how it encourages her quieter students to get involved by sharing their ideas with the class! “I was that shy kid in school, and I love seeing how the OKIOCAM encourages those timid students to get up and share their work. It not only helps to build confidence within them, but also encourages collaboration between the students.” The OKIOCAM is a must-have EdTech tool in your classrooms!
A More Compassionate Community
In a time when teacher burnout is growing at an exponential rate, Aimee’s story has such a profound lesson! We as a community must support our teachers because there is star power in each and every educator! For Aimee, the students are the crux of what keeps her motivated and inspired to continue in this field of work. “Knowing that I am helping my students is the best. Those little lightbulb moments where you can see a student’s confidence growing fills my heart. The students are the light in the classroom and we can’t forget that!
Aimee Scott is a third-grade teacher at HighMark Charter School in South Weber, Utah! Aimee consistently strives to foster a space of inclusion and compassion within her classroom by catering to each individual student with different methodologies and technologies. Aimee is active on social media where she is constantly sharing tips, tricks, and hacks that help her in the classroom. Stay up to date with all of Aimee’s content on Instagram and Tik Tok!
