Kelly Morris was interviewed by guest blogger, Dr. Betty Dore, using the Blue Roads Changemaker Framework: Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World. It's easy to see why Dr. Dore was eager to interview this outstanding advocate for equity and access for all students. Read on to learn how Kelly uses her own upbringing as motivation and inspiration to create better futures for the students she serves in Radford, Virginia.
I first met Kelly when she began her pre-service teaching year in the Middle School Teacher Preparation Program at Radford University in Fall, 2002, and Spring, 2003. Her concentrations for her degree were middle school English and math. Kelly did her field experience teaching seventh and eighth graders in Blacksburg Middle School and Dublin Middle School. I was her professor, advisor, and student teacher supervisor. It was obvious from the very beginning she had a sincere love for students and a great desire to help them become life-long learners.
Homegrown Kelly
Kelly was born in Virginia , but raised and spent the primary years of her life in Vermont – on Lake Champlain, not far from the Canadian border in a small town called Saint Albans Bay. Her hardworking family was made up of fishermen, dairy farmers, and sugar workers, tapping trees and turning sap into maple syrup. The family’s bloodline on her father’s side is 1/16 Abnaki Indian with a lot of French roots. Her mother’s side is deeply rooted in the Appalachian region. The lack of financial privilege wasn't evident to Kelly because she always had plenty of food, clothing, and shelter.
For food, Kelly recalls, her family “grew it, picked it, caught it, or killed it.”
Growing up without a lot of financial resources had a huge influence on her as a changemaker. As a child who wasn’t born with many opportunities, Kelly built a strong sense of want for equality and understanding. She reports she has always rooted for the underdog and has always known when others weren’t equally represented, even at a very young age. Seeing the inequity in school has pushed Kelly to work with children who are underserved, marginalized, and economically disadvantaged.
Kelly didn’t grow up in a very diverse part of the country. Being raised in a rural part of the world, she wasn’t introduced to different cultures and ethnicities until she was 14 years old when her family moved to Fairlawn, Virginia, where she attended Dublin Middle School, and Pulaski County High School.
She continued her education and became a first generation college graduate from Radford University, receiving both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, all while being encouraged by her supportive hardworking parents. Her first teaching position was at Christiansburg Middle School teaching eighth graders . She currently teaches at Dalton Intermediate School as a reading specialist.
Solution Focused Kelly
Kelly strives to make schools and learning more equitable for kids of all backgrounds, knowing that many students, like herself, were not born into opportunity. She's determined and creative in her approach to finding resources to help.
As one example among many, Kelly recently reached out to Shentel Telecommunications Company on behalf of her students to see if there was a way for students and their families to receive Internet access for those with financial barriers. She knew this was an obstacle that would affect her students’ learning, especially this year when students were forced to attend classes virtually. Her contact with Shentel made it possible for Radford City Public School students to receive Internet access and be able to learn from home like the students who are born without financial barriers. This prompted Radford City Public schools to take it one step further and provide hotspots to families to support the underserved population of learners in Radford.
Kelly continues to reach out to her community to find other places for hotspots for students who have no Internet connection, therefore helping to “level the educational playing field”.
Kelly's Patchwork
It was at Radford University where Kelly’s passion for the marginalized students grew. She was exposed to new ideas in classes like World Religions, Gender Studies, Multicultural Literature, and Diversity and Inclusion. In this context, Kelly learned the world was a lot bigger and made up of a very diverse groups of people, all needing the certainty of authentic relationships in order to learn and to thrive.
According to Kelly, there are ripples in education that give kids hope when these authentic relationships are formed. Teaching with empathy and kindness is very important to Kelly. This is what she models while mentoring two first-year English teachers this fall – one teaching seventh grade and one teaching eighth grade at Dalton Intermediate School. K
Kelly will be “pushing in” reading instruction in these teachers’ classrooms to better serve the striving readers at Dalton Intermediate School; again trying to make school more equitable for all students.
Kelly's World
Being a changemaker – means, exactly that… being one who makes “change,” which in education, often times means changing one’s mindset, the mindset of teachers and students.
According to Kelly, ALL students can learn if the playing field is leveled, and if teachers build authentic relationships with students, showing kids they have value and importance in their teacher’s lives.
Students realize their full potential when they have the tools they need to thrive. Kelly says being a changemaker means she teaches kids who will make great changes in future communities and society, which helps her to continue being the changemaker she is today.
Thus the cycle of changemaking continues.
Kelly's work as an educator and advocate clearly highlights Global Goals #1 No Poverty, #4 Quality Education, #9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure and #10 Reduced Inequalities. What about you? Where are you and people you know acting to realize the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals listed above? Get in touch below and let us know!
Elizabeth Dore, Ed.D. recently retired from Radford University as a full professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership and Coordinator of the Middle Level Teacher Education Program where she served for almost 24 years after teaching middle school in Maine and at the college level in Colorado while earning a Doctor of Education degree. Dr. Dore has written and presented extensively on her research interests including transracially adopted young adolescents, multicultural education, reading and young adolescents, middle school instructional strategies, sexual harassment in middle schools, middle school curriculum development and co-teaching with content area special education pre-service teachers. Her service to the education community is ample evidence of her own work as a CHANGEMAKER for a better world. It is a great honor to include her voice as a Guest Author to our Blue Roads Changemaker series.
