Teacher Spotlight: Kari Lehman

For World Teachers’ Day we want to highlight Ms. Lehman, one of the many stellar teachers at High Jump! She has been teaching our Exam Prep and High School Choice classes for three years and helping students get into their best-fit high schools. Read about her insights and experience as a teacher:

Why did you go into teaching?

I have a passion for working with young people and social justice, and I thought teaching would be the way to do that. I had been working in the printing industry but felt like there was something else I should do. One day I walked into the school to volunteer for the Umoja Student Development Corporation and I had an epiphany; I just felt like this is where I’m meant to be. I decided to go back to school to get my Masters in teaching at the University of Chicago. Later I found out about High Jump from friends who taught at the program and now I’m here I love it!

What’s the importance of the High School Choice class that you teach?

I know the importance of reading and writing and how important the tests are for high school admissions. High School Choice is very important because it’s about so many things – researching and applying to schools and scholarships, exam prep – and they have to do it again in four years for college, so the things they learn now will help them later in life. It’s about knowing who you are and what the school you want to go to is like and if it’s a good fit – it’s very subjective, very personal. It gets students to start thinking about their future and that high school is going to affect the next step in your life. Looking at it as a whole process is really important. 

Do you have a favorite teaching moment?

I had a student last year who didn’t get into the schools that she wanted to, but she did not give up and applied again. Last week she emailed me that she got into that school and got financial aid. It’s rewarding to see students who keep trying, keep persevering and keep creating opportunities for themselves, and that’s what High Jump is about. We teach students not to be stuck in what you know, do your research, keep your mind open because you don’t know what’s out there until you try.

What have you learned as a teacher?

As a teacher I learned that students don’t always know how to articulate what goes on in their head – they might seem like they’re not interested in something but something else is actually going on. I had a student who didn’t want to do anything, didn’t want to do research, just wanted to go to whatever school. She was surprised when she got into a good school and she got scared and didn’t want to go – she said she wasn’t smart enough to be around other smart kids. She didn’t want to apply to those schools because she didn’t believe in herself, and I told her, “Look at the evidence. You’re in High Jump, you got into this great school, you get good grades and test scores. You deserve to be in this space.” As you go through this process with students you learn about how they think and that everything is not what it seems.

Do you have any advice for future teachers?

Teaching is very humbling. I think teachers are very hard on themselves, but I would say that to be okay being uncomfortable – sometimes things aren’t going to go the way you want to go. You’re not going to know how to handle every situation that’s going on. Be reflective. Be a lifelong learner. You loving yourself is the way you teach kids to love themselves. Teaching is our own greatest teacher.