Creating Connections

Amanda McDonnieal feels a special sense of pride when a former student drops into Redmond’s Sage Elementary School just to say “hello.”

For the popular fifth-grade teacher, it could be a high-schooler popping in to wish her a happy birthday. Or it could be a chance meeting at a restaurant with a former student who gets excited to tell her all about his progress.

“When they come back I think ‘Oh my goodness, I did make a difference,’” said McDonnieal, a 15-year education veteran who has taught at Sage since the school opened in 2010. “It is the BEST feeling, especially when it was fifth grade and they’re now seniors in high school and coming back. … It’s just amazing.”

Such strong bonds start with her overarching teaching philosophy. For McDonnieal, teaching begins when she connects with her students on a personal level.

She wants her students to understand that not only is she their teacher, but as a married mother of three young children, she is a real person outside of the classroom, too.

At the end of each school year, McDonnieal asks her students to write a memoir chronicling their memories of elementary school. And she gets them to share by sharing her own experiences.

“I make sure that I tell stories about my life outside of teaching; I tell them my own experiences,” McDonnieal said. “They know all kinds of things about me.”

In return, McDonnieal asks her students to tell her all about their interests: soccer, dance, no matter. The goal is to break down the barrier between student and teacher and make a connection in its place.

That connection creates a solid base for McDonnieal to get through to her students. It also creates a more a collaborative environment, she said.

“I am genuinely interested in what they are doing outside of school,” McDonnieal said. “I think that is first and foremost so that they feel comfortable sharing, and it’s not just ‘Ms. McDonnieal the fifth-grade teacher is a scary person.’”

Those relationships are precisely what make McDonnieal such an effective teacher, said Grant Faulconer, a fellow fifth-grade teacher at Sage.

“She’s real,” said Faulconer, who has known McDonnieal since they were both young teachers in Madras. “It’s not one way in the classroom, then one way out of the classroom. And the kids pick up on that. She is genuinely interested in what they do, but at the same time has high expectations and standards for them.”

A fourth-generation educator, teaching is in McDonnieal’s blood. And her passion for teaching has been especially sparked with upper elementary school students.

The Redmond High School graduate found her calling teaching fifth grade. And she draws energy in helping to foster her students’ educational independence while helping them transition from elementary to middle school.

“I genuinely love my job,” said McDonnieal. “I love working with the kids. I love that ‘Aha!’ moment when kids have been struggling and working so hard to understand a concept.

“It’s just so amazing when that light bulb goes off.”