Kati Ozols brings energy, collaboration and encouragement to her 4th-grade math class \u2014 in the same Wylie ISD where she once was a student.<\/p>\n
SACHSE, Texas \u2014 Spend a minute inside Kati Ozols\u2019 4th-grade classroom, and you might think you\u2019ve walked into a pep rally instead of a math lesson.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCollaborate! You\u2019re working together \u2014 working the steps together!\u201d Ozols calls out as students clap and respond in unison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGet it? Got it? Good!\u201d It\u2019s a catchphrase they\u2019re primed to respond to. Hands shoot up. This is the scene at Cox Elementary School in Sachse: Kids leaning over their desks, comparing answers and debating solutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No one is just sitting quietly in the back.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is your total!\u201d Ozols tells one group as one student eagerly explains why a number should decrease. A few minutes later, she breaks them up into small groups. This lesson is as much about collaboration as it is about coming up with the right answer. And Ozols lets them know what\u2019s at stake here: \u201cThey\u2019re going to get $100 Coyote Cash each!\u201d she announces. A gasp ripples across the room.<\/p>\n
The energy in this classroom is intentional. Ozols wants her students to feel seen, heard and supported \u2014 not intimidated by math.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery kid needs their personal cheerleader,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m blessed with the opportunity to be the cheerleader for 63 students this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Ozols, teaching was never really a question. It was always the plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She still has a photo from early childhood showing all of her stuffed animals lined up in front of a whiteboard in her grandmother\u2019s kitchen \u2014 her very first classroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t tell you what I was teaching them,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cBut they were learning something.\u201d<\/p>\n
And it runs in the family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ozols\u2019 mom was a teacher, and she grew up watching her dedication up close. She also had younger sisters, who were all too willing to play the role of students. It was a natural path to follow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of been in the blood since the beginning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Her connection to the community runs just as deep. Ozols grew up in Wylie, attended Wylie East High School \u2014 where she was a cheerleader \u2014 and married her high school sweetheart, who\u2019s now a firefighter in nearby Allen. They made an intentional choice to raise their own daughter in the same district that brought them together, Wylie ISD.<\/p>\n
Inside Ozols\u2019 classroom, that hometown connection shows. She sees aspects of her younger self in the faces of her students. And she knows math can be intimidating to some. When a student struggles, Ozols searches for ways to meet them where they are.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s finding their interests,\u201d she said. \u201cIf it\u2019s football, I\u2019m going to write so many math questions about football. We\u2019ll measure the yards that Patrick Mahomes threw. We\u2019ll find ways to connect what they love to math.\u201d<\/p>\n
The approach works. Her classroom buzzes with problem-solving as students break down questions together, working step by step through real-world scenarios.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And her enthusiasm hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed. Ozols was just named Cox Elementary School\u2019s Teacher of the Year \u2014 an honor that caught her by surprise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOh man, there were lots of emotions,\u201d she said, quickly shifting the focus away from herself. \u201cEveryone who has made me the teacher that I am \u2014 this award\u2019s for them,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a product of everyone who invested in me.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Ozols says recognition isn\u2019t what matters most. Her real reward is the moment a student who once struggled suddenly starts to understand the material and feels a sense of accomplishment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my number one job \u2014 not to teach math,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s to pour into my kiddos and make sure they know they have someone in their corner, cheering them on 100 percent of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of the school day, Ozols stands by the door as students pack up. \u201cLove you, goodbye!\u201d she calls out to each one as they leave.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a small moment, repeated dozens of times every afternoon. But for the boys and girls leaving school for the day, it means something simple and powerful: Someone is rooting for them. Every single day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kati Ozols brings energy, collaboration and encouragement to her 4th-grade math class \u2014 in the same Wylie ISD…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[160,162,161],"class_list":["post-202304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}