Amy Kepner

Teacher: Amy Kepner

Subject: College & Career Readiness, Global Studies

School: East High School (Rockford)

Teaching experience: 9 at East, 12 total

What did a nominator or recommender say about this teacher?

• “I had Mrs.Kepner my freshman year. She posted check-ins to make sure students were doing ok. I could see how much she cares for every student and that really resonated with me. Without a doubt, her class was my favorite class, because she was such a great teacher.” – from a student nomination
• “She’s curious, thoughtful and devoted to helping students become better thinkers and people. Amy cares about both strong instruction and the whole student. She finds ways to connect rigorous standards to real-world projects so students actually understand how ideas matter. Outside class, I’ve seen shy students come alive [in her Dungeons & Dragons Club]; it’s a space where students who don’t always shine in traditional settings can take risks, lead and grow.” – a peer letter of recommendation

What does this teacher say? Amy says for many years, she let the teacher’s pet peeve of “I don’t know” or blank stares as student responses go, but now she tells them that phrase is to be replaced with “I don’t know YET.” Students realized “I’m just going to keep pushing them. That forces them to start thinking aloud, then I help them form the answer they are trying to come up with. I love watching their faces when they realize they had the right answer all along.” She often has lines outside her door for conferences, often hearing “you are the only teacher I want my mom to meet tonight.” Amy has started combining vacation with work, going to out-of-state conferences to learn strategies in the morning, and later exploring historical sites to gather photos and artifacts for her classroom.

What else do we know? She coordinates the annual Academy Expo, where more than 100 community leaders expose students to various careers. She helped with the Freshman Academy’s achieving Model Status with the National Career Academy Coalition in 2023. This summer she is chaperoning a student trip to Japan and South Korea. Pandemic students nicknamed her “Sensai” (the Japanese word for teacher) which a former student tattooed on her arm.

ore students.