Her Story
“The last thing I wanted to be was a teacher!” Katie McGrath writes. Both of her parents, an art teacher and an industrial arts teacher, were educators, and she thought she had seen all of it. The third of seven children, she spent a few years looking for her calling before taking a short substitute job in a kindergarten classroom. “Untrained and apprehensive, I walked into that classroom to a sea of young smiling faces and found what I had been looking for. … I closed that classroom door, and I have been there ever since.”
That job led her to Florida State University, where she earned a B.S. in early childhood and elementary education in 1981, and later to Florida Southern University for gifted education certification. She has taught in Marion County since 1980: first grade at Reddick-Collier and South Ocala Elementary, then at Shady Hill Elementary from 1986 to 1999 as a second and fifth grade teacher, hands-on science lab teacher and K–5 gifted resource teacher. Since 1999 she has taught fifth grade at Saddlewood Elementary.
Her honors include Marion County Teacher of the Year, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching (1996), National Board Certification (2001), Florida State University’s Distinguished Alumni award (2001), and three Christa McAuliffe Fellowships (1992, 1999 and 2001). She has also been a Golden Apple Teacher, an Air Force Education Foundation citation winner, and the Ocala/Marion County Jaycees’ Outstanding Young Educator (1988).
Beyond the Classroom
“Schools are not isolated islands of learning,” McGrath writes, and her students’ work reaches into the community. A local surgeon brought a portable laser to teach about the human body, a blacksmith brought two horses to show how to shoe one, and retired teachers launched model rockets. She helped organize a field trip that took 757 students to the school’s business partner, Sam’s Club, at once. Her class also visits a local nursing home several times a year.
When a local television station asked for help filling food banks at Christmas, she and the exceptional education teacher with whom she shares an inclusion classroom led a school-wide drive. Many of the students come from high-poverty households, and the school’s total jumped from the 500 to 700 pounds of earlier years to over 2,000 pounds, more than any other school in the district.
She serves on the advisory council of the Florida League of Teachers, is a past president of her local Phi Delta Kappa chapter, and has given more than 400 hours of workshops and seminars. She also mentors early-career and at-risk teachers, speaks to community groups, and presents to Future Educators students and to pre-service teachers at the university level.
Philosophy Into Practice
McGrath’s philosophy fits in a word: every child in her class TRIES, for Trust, Relationships, Involvement, Expectations and Success. Her classroom is built on hands-on, discovery-based projects. One day students enter a darkened room taped off as a crime scene and are deputized to solve it with lab coats and clipboards. Another, teams use pasta and white glue to build bridges (the strongest held 47 pounds), or build model houses to withstand “Hurricane Katie” under a leaf blower. Her fifth graders formed a publishing company to write kindergarten science books, which high school art students illustrated.
“Teachers should be the guides on the side, not the sage on the stage.”— from her essay, “Philosophy of Teaching”
“Students often leave school saying, ‘But we didn’t do any work today!’”— from her essay, “In the Classroom”
In Her Own Words
“Tomorrow’s future is sitting in my classroom today. That is an awesome responsibility that I take seriously each and every day.”— from her essay, “Philosophy of Teaching”
“I have been described as a whirling dervish with a big smile, and if I am honest, that is probably a fair and accurate description.”— from her essay, “Getting to Know You”
“Awards, grants and fellowships are pretty icing on the cake, but the true accomplishments that a teacher cherishes are the successes of the children that she teaches.”— from her essay, “Professional Profile”
“The best teacher in the classroom that day, and many other days, is often the student.”— from her essay, “Professional Profile”
“Teaching. It is not just a job. It is an adventure.”— from her essay, “Getting to Know You”
What Others Said
“Mrs. McGrath is one of the most dynamic teachers I have ever observed. … there is never a lost moment of instructional time in her classroom.”— Lori (Penny) McKee, Principal, Saddlewood Elementary
“Katie is one of those once in a lifetime teachers who all of us hope to encounter in our educational career.”— Jaye Baillie, parent of a former student
“Katie McGrath is respected by all of us in the educational community.”— Martha Kreitemeyer, kindergarten teacher, Shady Hill Elementary
“Katie McGrath’s life is dedicated to teaching – everyone. And I do mean everyone. There is no escaping her.”— Leslie V. Wiechens, inclusion co-teacher
“Her leadership and dedication was evident as she moved the organization toward its goal of promoting the excellence of teachers in our profession and within the community.”— Linda Maxwell, colleague, Golden Apple Academy and Phi Delta Kappa
“Her impact upon my life, as a student, and now as a teacher is immeasurable.”— Valori Fleetwood, former student
“Mrs. McGrath has been an instructional leader in Marion County for 21 years.”— James M. Warford, Superintendent, Marion County Public Schools