Intro: Welcome to the Teacher Interview Podcast. I’m your host, Wes Kriesel. I work as Director of Innovation and Instructional Support in Fullerton School District, and every week we sit down and get to know a teacher better. My goal is to learn what drives and guides teachers, especially when venturing into that risky territory of trying something new. Join me. Today on the Teacher Interview Podcast, we spend time with Katie O’Meara. She teaches at Robert C. Fisler School in Fullerton, California. Join us and take a listen.

Wes Kriesel: Well, Katie, welcome.

Katie O’Meara: Hi. Thanks for having me.

Wes Kriesel: Hi. Yeah. We’re very happy to have you. And so, we’re going to start this episode off with just asking you how you got into teaching. So, what was that like for you?

Katie O’Meara: Well, when I graduated high school, I knew I wanted to be a high school theater teacher. And so, my high school theater teacher went to Cal State Fullerton, so I was like, “Well, I’m going to go there, too.”

Wes Kriesel: Of course, yeah.

Katie O’Meara: So, I started my first trimester in the theater department and it was way too like hippy-dippy for me and I was like, “I cannot do this.”

Wes Kriesel: I’m going to run that tape back. Hippy-dippy?

Katie O’Meara: Yeah. It was like too touchy-feely for me.

Wes Kriesel: Okay.

Katie O’Meara: And so, the second trimester, I did English only because I thought, [00:01:36 “You just have to get your credential in] English, I’ll do that,” and that was too boring. So, then I did both, so I double-majored in theater and English, and then I had to teach high school theater as part of my education like for 2 weeks. And so, when I was like 20, I went to Fullerton High School and I tried to teach their advanced theater for two weeks at Fullerton High School. And I was like, “Oh no, this is not for me. This is bad. No, thank you.”

Wes Kriesel: What happened?

Katie O’Meara: It was, you know, 17- and 18-year-old kids and I’m 20, and I’m trying to teach them and I had not even had a teaching class yet. And so, they just threw you to the wolves, kind of, and I did not know what to do. And I remember giving them homework, I did like theatrical makeup unit, and so I was giving them homework that was like, “Color and make a collage of your inspiration from magazine clippings.” No, they would not do it.

Wes Kriesel: They wouldn’t do it.

Katie O’Meara: They just thought I was a joke, and I was. I was. So, I was like, “This is maybe not what I want to do.” So, I finished both of my degrees but I didn’t get my credential. So, I went on…

Wes Kriesel: Were you devastated?

Katie O’Meara: I just was like, “Oh, I was wrong.” And then, my first job out of college was like an auto insurance claims adjuster, and then after that I was a wedding coordinator and then I did weddings for like three years. And I was like, “I hate this. I’m over weddings. I can’t do this forever because people, it’s like the biggest day of their life and I’m like, ‘Calm down, like it’s not a big deal.’” [00:03:15 unintelligible] time to go. And so, I thought, “Well, maybe I just got the age level wrong.” So, I thought, “Okay, maybe elementary was what I should have done.” And so, I went back to school and I got my multiple-subject credential, and I was like, “Oh, this makes all the difference,” but it was probably also the extra years of life experience.

Wes Kriesel: True, true.

Katie O’Meara: So, I got my credential and through Cal State Fullerton again. And then, I started working in South LA right out of the credential program because it was kind of a really hard time to find a teaching job.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. So, it wasn’t student-teaching, it was like you got hired.

Katie O’Meara: I did student-teaching in Fullerton and Los Alamitos, and then I got hired in South LA.

Wes Kriesel: Okay, okay.

Katie O’Meara: So, like off the 110 in Slauson [00:04:01 and it’s our new] school, and it was a brand-new school, first year of school, and it was like the hardest thing I’ve ever done. And I didn’t even have a teaching partner, I didn’t have a curriculum, and I just had to, I learned a ton really fast, but I was excited for the opportunity to move closer to home and have a curriculum and things like that as resources. So, three years after I did that, I got hired at Fullerton.

Wes Kriesel: So, just walk me through, not the details of the first year, but the lessons learned. Because you said you didn’t have a curriculum, but then you taught [00:04:36 in that year.] So, what did you learn and how did you get by? What did you do?

Katie O’Meara: Lots of creativity, lots of just learning what good instruction design looks like with following a model where you demonstrated and then you have activities and you reteach, and just learning that kind of system and then trying to create it on your own. And so, it was really tough trying to find quality resources just online. And what I figured out probably a few months into the job was I guess I was spending all this time looking for resources, and I realized if I created it myself, it’s faster in the long run and it’s exactly what I want instead of trying to get something quick that is what someone else created that doesn’t work for me. So, it taught me so much, so fast about making quality materials and kind of how to have confidence in myself, like, “Oh, I can do it better and I’m going to.” But, it was hard. It was lots of crying. Lots of crying.

Wes Kriesel: [00:05:55 That was a surprise.] I mean, I probably cried in my first year of teaching, too, but not over lesson planning. It was classroom management for me. But, so that’s interesting. So, the idea, “I can make a resource for my students that’s tailor-made, like it fits…” We have a train.

Katie O’Meara: Oh.

Wes Kriesel: If our listeners are hearing that noise in the background. And Katie’s rolling her eyes and looking around.

Katie O’Meara: It’s like, “What is this?”

Wes Kriesel: Yeah, there’s a train next door to us. So, that idea of crying over like resources and trying to fabricate out of nothing, so if you just had a chance to work with, let’s say, new teachers, what advice would you give them based out of what you learned that year or since?

Katie O’Meara: I would say that, don’t get so hung up on being perfect because I think a lot of teachers are perfectionists. And so, I think that was what was really hard for me, is that there’s such a huge learning curve to teaching and I think probably more than many careers. There’s just such a huge learning curve and you’re a perfectionist and you want to do so good and you constantly feel like you’re failing in your first year because you have so much to learn. And so, to give yourself some grace, but just learn as much as you can from those around you. It’s okay to ask for help. You don’t have to do everything on your own. But, if you do end up in a situation where you don’t have a lot of support, you can create your own stuff and it’s okay. And if you’re a new teacher in Fullerton, the nice thing is we do have curriculum to start from as a resource and we do have, like iPersonalize and things that can help set you up to have a starting point, which I didn’t have. But, the district is, there’s a lot of resources available in our district to help new teachers like that.

Wes Kriesel: That’s great. So, let’s say tomorrow you were given, let’s say, a new teaching adventure or assignment that you hadn’t done before. How would you talk yourself through it or walk yourself through it? What would you say going into something brand new? And how many years have you been teaching?

Katie O’Meara: Eight.

Wes Kriesel: Eight. So, like this is your nine and it’s all brand-new, what do you say to yourself?

Katie O’Meara: Just I’m always trying to make sure I’m prepared, so luckily, I would probably have the summer to plan, and I do a lot of research on whatever I can to learn more about my craft. Like when I got hired in the district, I had never used Mac products before ever. And so, I was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m at the laptop school, I’m at Fisler, and I’m going to be a joke. I don’t know any of this.”

Wes Kriesel: I like how you internalize that, “I’m going to be a joke.”

Katie O’Meara: Oh, well, I’m in sixth grade. I knew the kids were going to give me the hardest time if I didn’t know what I was doing. So, I looked for, “Well, how can I learn this?” And so, the MacBook store I found out has all of these free classes that you can sign up for. So, it’s like a one-hour workshop on every different program. And so, I went to, they don’t have all of the classes at all the same places, so I went to Brea and I went to Irvine, and I went to Santa Monica for one.

Wes Kriesel: You did?

Katie O’Meara: Yeah, but I took like an intro course in every single program just at least so I had some sort of familiarity, so I could fake it till I made it. So, I think I would just try and do as much research as I could to try to prepare, but then at the end of the day, you have to be willing to throw it out the window when you need to. That’s another lesson I learned at the beginning of teaching, is sometimes you plan so hard and then it goes awry, and you have to be like, “Oh, it’s okay to table this for the day, come up with an alternative strategy, and start again tomorrow.” Because I think a lot of new teachers will try and do it, do it, do it into the ground when you’ve already realized it’s not working. And so, it’s okay to say, “That didn’t work and I’m going to stop. We don’t need to keep going down the wrong path. We can change it.”

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. So, when you’re faced with that moment of like, “I need to reset,” where does that come from? Because a lot of people would be like, “Well, I’ve already put in the effort to do that. Maybe I should stick with it.” “How do you kind of find it within yourself? What goes on? What’s the self-talk that goes on where you’re like, “Okay, honestly, what should happen here is X and move in a different direction?”

Katie O’Meara: I think it’s just something that comes with a little bit more time and knowledge because I think, as a new teacher, it’s hard to see it. It’s hard to see it. You get in there and you’re like, “But I did all X, Y and Z and this should be the outcome, and it’s not working.” But, I think just saying that the fact that it’s not working doesn’t define you as an educator, and you don’t have to force that to work to validate yourself, you know what I mean?

Wes Kriesel: Yeah.

Katie O’Meara: It takes more, sometimes, integrity and intelligence to say, “You know what? This wasn’t my best work. I thought it was going to be great and I had logical flaws for that, but I learned. I learned something today and I’m going to stop right now and I’m going to adjust it so it can be better tomorrow,” because teaching is all about growth like forever.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. Growth forever.

Katie O’Meara: Yeah.

Wes Kriesel: There’s so much in what you just said, I just want to unpack it a little bit, spend some time there. So, you said something, I don’t know if these were your exact words, but something like, “I am not my teaching,” like the fact that what you tried in the classroom doesn’t define who you are. “I am not my planning. I’ve laid these plans out, but how that plan turns out in the real world doesn’t define who I am.”

Katie O’Meara: Mm-hmm.

Wes Kriesel: That’s very deep and philosophically, I don’t know, attainable for everyone because we tend to kind of measure ourselves by what we’re able to produce in the real world. So, I would say that comes from somebody who doesn’t have control issues. I don’t know how you…

Katie O’Meara: Oh, I definitely don’t know if people would agree with that about me, but…

Wes Kriesel: Because you are organized. I mean, we are going to get to the quotes and people talk about your organization and your planning and your hard work. So, yeah, how do you have that going on where you’re putting in the hard work and planning but then you’re also able to say, “Okay, this is not going to define me because that’s just…” I don’t know, how do you talk yourself through that?

Katie O’Meara: Again, I think it’s something that I’ve been able to realize over time as I build more confidence in myself and my teaching career. I think I’m really hard on myself in general, but I think that one thing I have confidence in is that I am a hard worker and I always try my best and I always have the best of intentions. And so, the fact that I know that about myself, it’s always easy to give myself the benefit of the doubt and like, “I tried my best. It didn’t turn out the way I wanted to, but I know I always give it 100%.” So, if you’re always giving it 100%, even if it doesn’t turn out how you expected, you can’t be mad at yourself for that. You know what I mean? And it doesn’t mean that I didn’t beat myself up like that over things for years and it doesn’t mean that I don’t still struggle with that at times, but I think, ultimately, I have confidence in my work ethic and ability. And so, it’s easier to just say, “Well, this was just a bad plan. It didn’t go the way I wanted to. How can I change it to make it better?”

Wes Kriesel: Right. Yeah. It’s interesting, I think that’s something arrived at over time and through experience. Yeah, that’s I think like a place of wisdom where you’re like—and then, also, you have a value that’s not necessarily perfection or outcome. The value is also something more aligned to like the journey, like, “It’s hard work in the journey. I did that and that sort of validates me and who I am.” So, having that value, it’s interesting, is less “how come” focused and more process-focused or like just valuing the journey.

Katie O’Meara: Yeah. And when you just said that, it made me think of like sometimes you’re in the classroom day after day and you’re like, “We are behind. How am I going to get these kids ready? We’re not in the place where we need to be. Oh my gosh, I’ve only done three standards in the last month,” or whatever it is, and you’re like, “[Gasps].” But then, somehow by the end of the year, all of those little things have added up and like, “Oh, we did it! We got there!”

Wes Kriesel: We’re okay!

Katie O’Meara: I know. And with teaching, it kind of starts over every year. You start from the beginning and you’re pushing it up the hill again, trying to get to the top of the mountain, and sometimes I think it’s hard to see that you’ve made progress up the mountain but you don’t realize it because it’s made up of all these little tiny moments, and not every moment is perfect.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. That’s true. Okay, we’re going to dive into some quotes, some things that people said about you. Normally, we ask three people. I think I see four responses here, so that’s interesting. So, I have to make sure I’m always looking. So, your husband Andrew gave us some feedback. I think your mom, somewhere. Does that sound right?

Katie O’Meara: Yeah.

Wes Kriesel: Yup? Your mom, [00:15:44 unintelligible]?

Katie O’Meara: I gave an alternate because my husband isn’t always the best with words and I knew he would feel pressure. So, I gave you an alternate.

Wes Kriesel: Okay. Well, you came through. [00:15:52 Christina Chung] and your principal, Julienne. So, okay we’re going to play a game.

Katie O’Meara: Okay.

Wes Kriesel: So, I’m going to say those are four people and I’m going to say the word that they said to define you or represent you, and I’m just going to have you guess.

Katie O’Meara: Oh, okay. Okay.

Wes Kriesel: Okay. So, husband, mom, [00:16:16 Christina] or Julienne. Okay, so let’s see. How should I do this? I’ll say one word and you have a guess.

Katie O’Meara: Okay.

Wes Kriesel: Okay. This is going to be tough. I’ll be impressed. It’s more for the conversation than getting it right. I will say the word is determined.

Katie O’Meara: My mom.

Wes Kriesel: Close, close. That was your husband.

Katie O’Meara: Oh, okay. Not quite my mom.

Wes Kriesel: Close family, close family. What does that mean to you?

Katie O’Meara: I think just like I, if I set my mind to something, I’m going to do it. And I [00:17:00 that my mom was] the one that said that. But my mom, when I was telling her I was going to go back to school to get my teaching credential—it was so hard to find a job at that time—she was like, “Don’t do that.” She thought [00:17:13 unintelligible]. She didn’t think it was a good idea because I wouldn’t be able to get a job, and she’s like, “There’s no jobs.” And I said, “There’s going to be a job and I’m going to get that job.” And so, when I really do set my mind to something, I will make it happen.

Wes Kriesel: That’s impressive. That’s impressive.

Katie O’Meara: And I got hired right in May, when they said it couldn’t be done.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. So, your mom said devoted, and then I would call it cheating, but she said, “Devoted means,” and then she said caring, loyal, faithful, true, staunch, steadfast, constant, committed, dedicated, devout, fond, loving, and affectionate. So, tell me what that means to you, devoted.

Katie O’Meara: I think she should have just said determined because she tried to encapsulate all of those additives. I think it’s kind of going along those same lines of like being strong-willed in a sense.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. Yeah, devoted like you’re all in for the cause, like whatever it’s going to take.

Katie O’Meara: Yeah.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. Yeah, that’s interesting. Okay, we’ll do one more. So, is this your principal or is this [00:18:30 Christina Chung,] your colleague? And the word is hardworking.

Katie O’Meara: I think it can be either, I mean, because they both know me in the same context, you know what I mean?

Wes Kriesel: Yeah, that’s true, that’s true.

Katie O’Meara: But, I’ll go with [00:18:48 Christina.]

Wes Kriesel: That’s great. Perfect score right there.

Katie O’Meara: Nice.

Wes Kriesel: So, she actually wrote a little bit, so I’m going to read that.

Katie O’Meara: Okay.

Wes Kriesel: So, she said, “Although there are many positive words to describe Katie, one word would be hardworking. When I long-term subbed at Fisler and had the opportunity to work with Katie, I was in awe of how hard she worked and how she did everything for the students’ best interest. She was always looking to do what was best for students and it motivated me to work hard, too. She was thorough in her lesson planning and super-well-organized, which helped our team so much to execute everything required of us.” So, what do you think about that?

Katie O’Meara: I think it’s like the pot calling the kettle black because Christina is like the hardest-working person I’ve ever met in my life. But, I’m all in. I don’t know how to do something at half-mast or whatever you want to call it, half force. So, that can be a blessing and a curse. So, it helps me, but then I also, if you take on too many things and you have to do everything at full force—but that’s just how I kind of am. But, Christina does everything she possibly can do. Every above-and-beyond thing, that’s Christina.

Wes Kriesel: So, in that context of yeah, you do things full on, but then, how do you balance taking care of yourself? What’s your insight after years of teaching? How do you know when you’re at your limit? Or, how do you say no to a project that you want to do but you realize, then that means giving half on something else? How do you think through that as an educator because there are so many valuable things to commit to?

Katie O’Meara: Yeah, I think it’s not something that I have mastered at all yet. It’s just not. I think that it’s hard to say no sometimes. When it’s something that you recognize as valuable and you want to help, it’s hard to say no and I don’t do a good job of saying no. And I think when I realize that it’s time to say that is when I’ve already taken on too much sometimes, and then I’ll be crying. There’s tears and frustration and stuff of being overworked and stuff, and then you get to a point where you realize, “Now I’ve done so much or I’m doing so many things that I’m not doing my best at my original position, because I’m not able to be as focused and present in the classroom every single day.” And so, then it’s having conversations with like my team or saying, “Hey, I need some support here, team,” or “Hey, my principal, I need some support,” or “Hey, IIS, help me.” And then, just knowing, “Okay, that was capacity. What can we scale back so that you can do your best work at max capacity?” and then try not to get to that point again but you will probably will, and then you’ll have to figure it all out again.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. It’s interesting, that theme of or that idea of asking for help.

Katie O’Meara: It’s so hard.

Wes Kriesel: Talk about that, yeah.

Katie O’Meara: It’s so hard. And maybe I’m wrong in the “a lot of teachers are perfectionist” thing, but I see that. And so, I think if you are that perfectionist personality type, it can be hard to admit that you can’t do it on your own or that you can’t do everything, and I struggle with that all the time. Yeah, I hate asking for help.

Wes Kriesel: But you recommend it at the same time.

Katie O’Meara: You should. Don’t do what I do, do what I say.

Wes Kriesel: That’s interesting. So, let’s say you were working with a young teacher, a new teacher. How would you tell them to be aware of that balance? How would you say to somebody, “You need to ask for help when…?” Because it is, a lot of times it’s ego and it’s pride and it’s perception, how people view you. But, sometimes we’re asked to do too much, and so it’s really critical to ask for help. So, how would you say that to somebody who doesn’t have experience you have?

Katie O’Meara: I think it’s just you have to recognize when you don’t have any work-life balance. I think teachers are really, we don’t have good work-life balance, many of us, and so there’s a certain extent where sometimes it’s going to be like that for a little while. But, if you feel like that all day, every day, and you’re working all weekend, that’s not going to be beneficial for you in the long run, and to be able to recognize that ahead of time and ask for support. Because that’s kind of how I felt at the charter school is, because I had to make all my curriculum and I had to turn in a lesson plan for every single lesson I was going to teach for the entire week on Sunday night, there was no weekend. And so, if you feel like you don’t have that time to step away and disconnect at all, that’s not healthy for anybody. And again, sometimes I need help with that, too. But, you recognize it, that that’s still true even if we don’t always follow it as much as we should.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. We have a few minutes left. We’re not in danger of running over our time, but I did want to kind of shift to some other topics. I don’t want to skip these because they came up in more than one person’s comments. And so, theater, musical theater?

Katie O’Meara: Mm-hmm.

Wes Kriesel: So, you have a drama degree, a theater degree, you love musicals, and there’s a quote, you would pay a pretty penny to get good seats. Tell me more about that.

Katie O’Meara: My family is very, my dad’s side of the family, was very theatrical. My grandma is actually the voice of Wilma Flintstone and Pebbles on The Flintstones, and Rosie the Robot on The Jetsons, and her husband who died before I was born was the head of NBC for a little bit, and then my dad was a film editor and my uncle was on Broadway and stuff. So, we just have that kind of like bug. So, I remember seeing the opera when I was like 6 or something and I’m like, “Oh my gosh, this is life. This is everything I want.” And so, we’ve always just gone to a lot of theater, and then in high school I did theater and then going Cal State Fullerton did theater. It’s just a passion mine that I just enjoy, and so…

Wes Kriesel: So, go back to the high school theater because sometimes extracurricular opportunities are like the strongest bond. They mean more. They’re like unique to us. I mean, everyone else has the core classes, but I chose theater. Talk a little bit about your experience during that time, maybe one high, one low, just to flesh that out.

Katie O’Meara: Well, and I hear what you’re saying about the core connections, my core people actually in high school were choir. I did choir and theater.

Wes Kriesel: Oh, okay. Awesome.

Katie O’Meara: I took summer school every year so I could have two electives.

Wes Kriesel: Oh. Smart.

Katie O’Meara: But, so I started, in ninth grade, I started with choir, and so that I was in every year. And then for theater, I actually didn’t. I wanted to do it, but I was too scared. I didn’t have the confidence in myself to do that. It was too scary, because in choir you sing together. You have safety in numbers. So, it was a mom that was a choir and theater mom. Her kids did both. She was like, “You know, I really think that you would be good for this part. I really think you should audition for this play.” And it was made my junior year, beginning of my junior year, and I was like, “That’s really scary.” And I was taking theater at that point like as a class, but I wasn’t planning to audition, and a friend was like, “Well, you help me audition.” And so, I was reading the script and stuff and I was like, I wanted it so bad but I just wasn’t confident in that. I’m really confident in my work ethic. I’m not really confident in my performance art skills. I can teach it to you, but I don’t know about doing it myself. Those who can’t, teach, right? So, I ended up auditioning and I got the part, and it was such a high. It was so amazing. And then, that was where my love really was because you can bring the music and the theater together, and then it’s magic.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. That’s cool. That’s cool. Is there any kind of holdover from that? Because some people will say teaching is kind of a performance and you’re always, you know, some people say it’s sales. You try to convince the kids to do something. But, how do you see that background like in the classroom? What do you think?

Katie O’Meara: It’s really funny because, you know we’re doing the Thrively assessment?

Wes Kriesel: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Katie O’Meara: And so, I took the Thrively assessment with the kids. I did not get teacher. [00:28:19 I had] one of my things. But, I got that I would be really good in like the performance arts or hospitality. And I was like, “Well, basically, if you put performance arts and hospitality together, it is teaching.” And so, I was like, “Yeah, that is…”

Wes Kriesel: That’s cool.

Katie O’Meara: And so, you kind of get a captive audience all day. That’s nice about the ego for that, right? Someone who likes to perform, you have a captive audience. And so, I am very goofy in class with my kids to try and get them engaged because they’re sixth graders and some of them are fun and some of them are too cool for school. And I’m like, “You’re 11! You’re 12! If you’re already this serious, life is going to be really boring for you. Come on.” And so, I dance around and I make a fool of myself and stuff. And we have a morning every class gets to pick their theme song, so we have a theme song that they come into and kids that will roll their eyes at me if I’m singing or dancing to the theme song. I’m like, “Oh, let me get up in your face more. Hey! Hey, you don’t like this? Come on, let’s dance. Have a good time!” I definitely have a little theatrics in the classroom.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. That’s cool. I love that connection. Was there a low point in theater? We’re almost out of time, but was there a low point in theater or choir just that because it was a space where you were really heavily invested, like it meant a lot to you, something that was tough to work through?

Katie O’Meara: Solos and choir, because safety in numbers, right?

Wes Kriesel: Right.

Katie O’Meara: You have confidence when there’s safety in numbers. And I remember, we used to sing at Disneyland for like Magic Music Days. So, we would go to Disneyland and sing, and I had to do a solo for Beauty and the Beast, and that was the worst solo I ever heard. Not many notes came out and what did were very squeaky. It was very bad, and that’s something that I struggle with confidence in that in front of people. And so, I really don’t like doing it in front of people, and I just never got over that kind of stage fright, especially singing. I can act in front of you and it doesn’t bother me, but singing, I don’t have the confidence in my voice to feel comfortable. So, I’m always really nervous. But, what was kind of redemption was Fisler does a staff talent show, and so I was like, “You know what?”

Wes Kriesel: Oh, okay. This came up. This came up.

Katie O’Meara: It did?

Wes Kriesel: Yes.

Katie O’Meara: Oh, that’s funny.

Wes Kriesel: Yes. So, tell me about the staff talent show.

Katie O’Meara: So, Fisler does a staff talent show, and so I was like, “Okay, everyone participates, everyone does, I have to do something.” And so, I thought, “As much as it’s going to pain me, maybe I can try and do that. Maybe I can try and sing.” “And so, I’ve done I think three or four years, I sang, and even though I’m still very critical and I don’t think that I’m very good necessarily—I know I’m not awful, but I’m not great—but it was kind of like redemption. I was able to get through it and do it, and do it in surprisingly a space that felt really safe because it was like all of the kids and they’re just happy you’re doing anything, you know what I mean?

Wes Kriesel: Yeah, yeah.

Katie O’Meara: And so, I think that I’ve actually grown in confidence even though I still get red and hives and nervous doing it. I think I’ve grown in confidence just because I was able to get back up there as an adult and try.

That’s cool. That’s really cool, and it’s such a great lesson because so many things that we sort of change our minds on when we were young because of a bad experience, we don’t need to abandon it especially if it’s tied to like a passion area or something that we’re really into. That should be encouraging for other people who are listening to, yeah, go back and revisit those things that you were passionate about that maybe you got hurt around, but don’t let it go.

The quote from [00:32:09 Christina] about the talent show is she said, “I admire her for wanting to go on stage and sing at the school talent show as I would never have the courage to do that.” And she says, “I’m very thankful to have met her, to have the opportunity to work with her and call her a friend.” So, there’s a couple of big—your mom wrote a lot, like a lot.

Katie O’Meara: Yeah.

Wes Kriesel: I could easily say these are the most words written for an interview.

Katie O’Meara: You can see where I get my thoroughness from, right?

Wes Kriesel: But then, both your husband and your mom talked about your first teaching assignment quite a bit, and we touched on that a little bit. I’m just going to let that go. But, I did want to end with one passage. So, this is from your husband. So, he says, “Being your husband, I would have to say one of the most significant moments is when I knew Katie was the one for me and knew how much she cared for others.” Do you know what the moment is?

Katie O’Meara: I think so.

Wes Kriesel: Okay, I’ll just keep going. “It was the first year we were dating. I took her trick-or-treating with my niece. That’s the first time she had met my niece, who is 4. My niece connected with Katie right away. She wanted to go with her to each house and Katie made sure that she was with her crossing the street. Watching Katie get along with my niece and my family that night was enough to know she was a keeper,” he says. So, you remember that?

Katie O’Meara: Yeah.

Wes Kriesel: So, what does that mean to you? Because that’s kind of a different memory or association than teaching or curriculum. What was that bond?

Katie O’Meara: I think, honestly, little kids never really seem to like me that much in my personal life, you know what I mean?

Wes Kriesel: I don’t know.

Katie O’Meara: Yeah, you didn’t know that. I didn’t really connect with little kids very much and stuff, and so I think after I got my teaching credential and stuff, that kind of disappeared a little bit. And so, I actually interviewed her for my teaching credential program for something that used her for reading and stuff.

Wes Kriesel: Oh, really?

Katie O’Meara: But, yeah, I just remember, the parents were not necessarily watching us as closely as I would want to watch a 4-year-old, and so I was like, “No, no, no, hold my hand. You need to come with me. Come here,” and stuff. So, I just remember kind of being overly protective and worried about her safety and stuff because I would not let my kid run across the street and stuff, and so I wanted to make sure she was safe. And then, I love Halloween and dressing up and stuff, so it was just a good time.

Wes Kriesel: It’s the theater again. It’s the costumes.

Katie O’Meara: Yeah, totally. It’s my favorite holiday.

Wes Kriesel: So, we just had Halloween. Did you dress up?

Katie O’Meara: It’s my first year. I haven’t.

Wes Kriesel: What? Really?

Katie O’Meara: I know. I know. I know.

Wes Kriesel: It’s okay.

Katie O’Meara: You get to that certain point where you’re like old and no one does anything anymore. We have nowhere to go. Last year, I dressed up as a lion tamer and I passed out candy as the lion tamer and that was good. But, I mean, we get 10 trick-or-treaters, so I didn’t put in the effort this year.

Wes Kriesel: Yeah. That’s discouraging.

Katie O’Meara: Yeah, I know.

Wes Kriesel: Well, that’s our time. I had a great time and exceptional time, so thank you very much for taking time.

Katie O’Meara: Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Outro: This has been the Teacher Interview Podcast. Thank you for joining us.

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