Kari Janner is a SCORES teacher who has worked at Akins High School for 10 years. She previously worked as a preschool teacher and as a teaching assistant at Austin High School, but otherwise, she has only worked as a teacher at Akins.

The Eagle’s Eye asked her a few questions about her background and what inspires her to be a teacher.

Eagle’s Eye: Where were you originally from?

Kari Janner: “Well, my dad was in the army. But he eventually got out of the army after we moved around a lot. And we settled in Bryan College Station, Texas. So that’s where I consider my home.”

EE: What kinds of classes do you teach?

KJ: “I’m a Special Education teacher here at Akins, and I work with students that are on the autism spectrum. Our program is called SCORES, and we teach classes for teaching social skills and study skills. And we also have a vocational part of our program where we teach job skills.”

EE: What are some of the challenges have you experienced as a teacher?

KJ: “I think one year that really stands out as challenging was my first year of teaching. Because my… the person I was teaching with was new as well. So we had to come up with our program from scratch. And so we had to. It was a challenging year we had to learn. We had to create all of our lesson plans and create all the different aspects of our program. And all as well as I had to learn all of the different technologies that teachers use, which I wasn’t really that comfortable -with. And all of the programs that special education, Special Education teachers have to use to do all of our documenting. So I think the first year was one of my most challenging years.”

EE: What do you like about teaching at Akins?

KJ: “I love teaching at Akins because of the people. My students are amazing. Throughout my 10 years, I’ve met wonderful students. And I also have great coworkers who really work as a team and really care about our students and our program. So it’s just the people for sure as my favorite thing about working at Akins.”

EE: What made you want to be a teacher?

KJ: “Well, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I first went to college. But after my freshman year of college, I was a camp counselor. And every week I had a different age group of students. So I had preschool kids, I had elementary school kids, middle school kids, but the week that we had high school students, I just knew that I wanted to work with high school students. And so when I went back to college in the fall, I changed my major to English and got my certification to become a teacher.”

EE: What do you like most about your students?

KJ: “My students are so interesting. So much fun. They make me laugh. They teach me so much. All of my students are very unique and have different strengths and so definitely have really enjoyed working with my students.”

EE: What are your goals as a teacher?

KJ: “I think my biggest goal is just trying to meet the needs of my students. Because my students have such a variety of needs. It takes a little while to get to know each student and get to know how you can best help them. What was the question again?”

EE: What are your goals as a teacher?

KJ: “So, first, my first goal is just that I’m meeting the needs of my students. And my second goal is I feel really passionate that we have really meaningful, interesting lessons for our students. So one of my goals is just to try to make my goal make my classes really interesting, really engaging for the students so that they really get something out of it. Sometimes our kids are in the same SCORES class for several years in a row. So we always try to change things up, we always try to tie our lessons into how this can be helpful after high school when you’re out on your own. So definitely, less than planning is definitely a goal of mine to do a really good job with that.”

EE: What helps you get through the tough moments as a teacher?

KJ: “Well, I have a very supportive husband and a supportive family. I also have amazing coworkers who are always willing to talk with me if I’m having a particular challenge. So I would say just being able to have all these supportive people in my life helps me through the hard times. I also really try to take care of myself. Get exercise, get good sleep, and on the weekends I try to forget about school and just give myself time to decompress.”

EE: And last question, is there anything you would like to add?

KJ: “I would like to add that I thank you for choosing to interview me. And that Akins is just a really great place to be and I’m so proud to be an Akins Eagle.”