Next Monday is International Women’s Day and I’ve teamed up with Kendra Scott for a week of interviews with Kentucky women who inspire me. Today’s interview is with my friend Sarah Weedman, a third grade teacher in the Jefferson County School System and a blogger at Class and Contrast.

Sarah is such a delightful person, and she loves teaching so much. I’m always inspired by her creative classroom decor and her commitment to making every student’s life better. As a friend, she’s funny and supportive, and so, so positive — an absolute delight to know!

Thanks so much to Kendra Scott for helping bring the Kentucky Women Who Inspire Me series to life — stay tuned to HerKentucky.com and my Instagram this week for previews of the newest Kendra Scott jewelry collection and a fun shopping event!

HerKentucky: Please tell me a little about yourself and about your work as a teacher.

Sarah Weedman: I am a 2nd grade teacher at Atkinson Academy in the Portland neighbor of Louisville. I work at a Title One school which means that my school receives additional funding in order to help prevent students from falling behind and help bridge the gap between low-income students and other students. I work with at risk learners and spend everyday trying to help them develop skills that will help them be successful in the classroom and also in life.

HK: I know that, like me, you grew up with parents who worked in the school system. Did you always want to be an elementary school teacher?

SW: I grew up in a family of teachers and most of our family friends were people from the school system. When I was younger I didn’t want to be a teacher because that just seemed like what everybody did and I wanted to be different. However, as I got older, I realized that I really felt drawn to being an educator and that even though it’s a very hard and misunderstood career, it’s very rewarding.

HK: Class and Contrast is such a cool blog and social media platform. What inspires you to share your amazing ideas online?

SW: I started my social media accounts because people (who weren’t me) were posting pictures of my classroom and it was getting attention! It honestly kind of upset me because I had spent so much time and effort on it and then other people were sharing it like it was theirs! So I decided to create my own account and share my classroom, which lead to also sharing some of my teacher outfits and then teaching strategies! The account has really evolved and I feel like I can do so many different things and share about almost any area of my life. I love being able to connect with thousands of teachers in an instant. I can ask a question and have 100 DMs with suggestions, videos and ideas within an hour! The same goes the other way, I will share something I’ve been using in my classroom and people will be so excited and start using it in theirs! I love when I am able to share a successful teaching strategy that helps other teachers because the positive impact stretches far and wide.

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A post shared by Sarah (@classandcontrast)

HK: I can’t talk about your social media feeds without mentioning your over-the-top ideas — the flamingos, the doors (the Drake door was insane!), and so much more! How do you think of all this? Do the kids absolutely love it?

SW: I have always been creative, even as a kid. Growing up I was particular about how my room was decorated, I was always wanting to change up my color schemes and thankfully my parents let me do that (more often than most parents would have) and they suffered through me wanting to repaint my room every couple of years. I am a very visual person and how a space looks is important to me. I want my classroom to always feel fun, safe and welcoming. I love working with a theme and building from there. I picked flamingos for my classroom because I really instill in the children being a part of the flock. They really do love it and rally behind the idea. As far as my classroom doors, I just try to find something trendy/pop culture that the kids would know and create something that would all recognize and that is school appropriate (Ha!). My head is constantly spinning with new ideas and dreams and I wish I had more time and energy to make all my visions come to life!

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A post shared by Sarah (@classandcontrast)

HK: How has teaching — and blogging about teaching — changed in the past year? I know that “these unprecedented times” have been so hard for all the teachers and kids in my family!!

SW: In the last year, I’ve had to continually push and stretch myself to keep the kids engaged and participating online. I’ve had to learn new skills and spend way way way more time on the computer than I ever expected! Since I am on the computer more this year, my desire to be in social media has decreased because usually at the end of the day I am beat and don’t want to continue to look at a screen. It was hard at first teaching so many new things to 7 year olds- like presenting their screen, opening a new tab, clicking the link in the chat... but now they are reallly good with technology and sometimes they will teach me things!

HK: Tell me all about Gwen the puppy! I am obsessed with her!!

SW: Gwen is a Boxador (Boxer/Labrador) from a shelter in Cincinnati. I got her when she was 8 weeks old and she has already brought so much joy into my life. Since I have been working from home for a year I have been insanely lonely with minimal (in person) human interaction. I’ve also experienced several of my best friends moving this year and I am happy/excited for them but it’s been hard to meet new people during the pandemic. I decided to get a puppy so that I wasn’t constantly alone, had something else other than work to focus on and would have someone to go on walks with. Gwen and I have been going to puppy socialization classes, working with a trainer and going on short walks. In the 3 weeks I’ve had her- I have met more people than in the past year! Everyone wants to stop and meet the puppy! And she has had several play dates and the whole neighborhood loves her. She has been wonderful for me.

HK: What’s the best piece of advice you have for others?

SW: The best piece of advice I have is:

You’re always going to disappoint people, don’t let it be your people.

There are words I live by and will share with anyone and everyone who will listen. Overworking is glorified in all careers, especially teaching. My first 2 years I prioritized my job over everyone. Instead of going out to dinner on a Friday night, I sat at home and got lessons together. Instead of visiting family on Sundays, I wrote hours of lessons. In the end, I left a lot of people disappointed and felt burnt out. Now I will happily wait till Monday to respond to an email. I will spend my weekends resting or having fun. I am a much better person for it.

This is irrelevant to teaching but this is my best advice for young girls my age who are dating: What you catch them with, is what you keep them with.

If you catch a guy with your body/good looks, that’s what you’ll always have to work on to keep them. If you catch them with your heart/compassion, that is how you’ll keep them. Be the girl who catches a guy with her heart, personality and passions.

Thanks again to Sarah Weedman for the interview, and to Kendra Scott for working with me to bring this series to life! You can find Sarah on Instagram, Facebook, and her blog.