Kasey McNamee, Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School

DEED Spotlight on Kasey McNamee at Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School in the Juneau Borough School District

Kasey McNamee is a third-year teacher at Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School in the Juneau Borough School District. This special education teacher has lived in Alaska for ten years and always wanted to teach in this beautiful state. Ms. McNamee currently serves students who are a part of the Developmental Educational Classroom/ Communication (DEC/C) program. This school year may have packed a punch, but Ms. McNamee and five paraprofessionals are not about to admit defeat. These educators are determined to keep fighting back the negativity each and every day.

The DEC/C program created a video to the tune of “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” by Pat Benatar, to combat the vibe that is 2020. Ms. McNamee stated, “Music makes people happy and this is a powerful song. We had a lot of students who were new, and we needed to engage them. This video introduced the team to students and families and helped everyone get into the right mindset for the year.” 

The DEC/C team knows the social and emotional health of students is vital, especially in this program. The morale and sense of community stands strong even through the instability of 2020. Ms. McNamee attributes this to the power of strong parent communication. “I have always valued parent communication, but this pandemic highlighted why it is so important to engage families.” Helping students achieve success requires building trusting relationships, and Ms. McNamee expressed gratitude for the opportunity to find unique ways to connect to families.

This team of educators, families, and students have created a respectful and fun learning community amid the pandemic. Ms. McNamee shared how the team has “developed the relationships with parents and students, to better understand how students are feeling. We can have engaging conversations using a team approach to best help students in this crazy time. Everybody on this team is supportive and assists one another to ensure students have what they need for learning.”

Ms. McNamee and the DEC/C team hopes students will learn new coping skills through this year. “We want students to employ coping skills to get through this, and instead of getting down when things change, we hope they build the coping mechanisms that can be employed in the future.” Ms. McNamee advises educators to let go of the what-ifs and to stop focusing on how it used to be. “Imagine that coming back to school will never happen, so how are we going to make the best of the current situation?”  Ms. McNamee stated “We are educators, so we should focus on what is best for kids. We do not need be afraid to try something new or different.” Instead, embrace every opportunity to learn more and grow alongside students and families.

Thank you, Ms. McNamee, and the entire DEC/C learning community for not allowing anything to knock out learning experiences and connections.