Dr. Katie Martin is the Head of Partnerships-West at AltSchool. Over the last 5 years, she has worked in diverse contexts to learn, research, and support deeper learning for all students. She has served as a middle school English language teacher, literacy coach, new teacher mentor, university instructor, and coordinator of district programs. Katie is the author of Learner-Centered Innovation.

I’ve known Katie for over five years and about her passion to create experiences that empower all learners to develop knowledge, skills, and mindsets to thrive in a changing world. I read a draft of her book, read the published version, and couldn’t wait to talk to her about it. Below are some excerpts from the podcast along with resources and links.
 
You and your family
We currently live in San Diego, California and grew up here most of my life. I met my husband, Mac, in Hawaii. After I graduated from college, I moved to Hawaii to teach and luckily he did also. We met teaching 3 doors down from each other. He was the 7th-grade science teacher and I was the 7th grade English Language Arts teachers. Our new teacher mentor introduced us. We started dating and kept it from our students for the first year. They loved it when they found out. We ended up staying there, married and had two kids, Abby and Zac, who were born in Hawaii. After we were there for 10 years, our kids were ready to start school. Mac got a job teaching at High Tech High that allowed us to move back to San Diego and be closer to my family. My kids were in 2nd and 3rd grade at the time of this podcast. It’s fun to see them grow up and see the school through their eyes.

 
What it was like for you as a learner
I was not the typical child who played being a teacher presenting to all my stuffed animals. My mom is an amazing first-grade teacher so I spent a lot of time in her class. She was doing makerspaces and projects over 20+ years ago so I learned a lot from her. But I wasn’t experiencing the same kind of learning in my own classrooms when I was a student. Very early on in 3rd grade, I remember thinking “how much longer do I have to be in school? This is horrible.” The reason I say that because I remember my teacher telling me I had to read the “Mouse and the Motorcycle.” It was the first time a teacher said to me that I had to read this book and a specific chapter. I was not inspired by that at all. I had a strong aversion to reading and just did what I had to do to get by. I always got As and Bs but I was not motivated nor passionate about filling in worksheets. It just didn’t do it for me. This made me not want to be a teacher.
 
TedTalk: Teachers Create What they Experience 

Background as a teacher
As life turned around, it turned out to be that the only thing I was meant to be was a teacher, especially a Language Arts teacher. I wanted to help my students think differently about their own reading and their own voice in the world. When I started teaching 7th grade, I was handed a workbook and looked through the filing cabinets. I was not going to teach this at all. My credential program in California was amazing where they taught us how to design experiences and thematic units so I brought that with me. I was fortunate to be in a space where I had the autonomy to teach what I wanted to teach. I designed lessons for kids that allowed them to pick books they wanted to read and connect with each other. It took a while for it to catch on, but it was the most memorable moments especially when they made connections to their own lives.
 
What if a school could be better for students and adults? https://t.co/s0Y7YF5c9C

Building Relationships First
Before I moved to Hawaii, I wasn’t sure how to connect with the students there.