Women Inspiring Women - Meet Kim McAllan

Women Inspiring Women! Meet Kim McAllan, mother, wife, teacher and autism advocate.

We can all agree that teachers have been a steady saving grace for families through covid. We looked to them for calm in the storm and they showed us how to navigate this new life. They were there for our kids and for us. As we near the end of the school year, it was important to me that we honour these incredible super humans.

Kim is my sister-in-law and she is the shining star of super human teachers. Throughout this past year, she has been optimistic and realistic. Alongside her responsibilities as teacher, mom and caregiver, she and her husband Morgan have had to help their youngest son Ethan navigate covid life. Ethan is autistic. Throughout the past year, this family has adapted and learned and worked damn hard to ensure their son continues to get the learning and opportunities he needs.

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your experience Kim!!!! Truly a woman of inspiration!!!

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I was super surprised and very humbled to be asked by Alicia to share a little about myself, my family, and how this “COVID life” has played out for me over the last year and a bit. Thanks so much Alicia, it’s been interesting to reflect and put into perspective the time that has passed.

I was born and raised in Saskatoon. I loved school and predicted that I would be a teacher in small town Saskatchewan. Well...I received my Bachelor’s of Education in 1999 and have been teaching since the fall of 1999! I took a summer job in 1997 working for Camp Tamarack and this is where I met another counsellor at the time m, Morgan who, on a beautiful December day in 2002 became my husband. We had our first son Callan in 2004 and our youngest son Ethan was born in 2007. We started raising our family in Saskatoon and in 2015 moved to Martensville. I have been a teacher in rural Saskatchewan, I have taught on 2 First Nation Reserves, and currently I teach for Saskatoon Public School division. My experience is all in the primary grades. I have been told I have high expectations for my students, but achievable, I have a strong will to advocate and provide quality inclusive education for all students, and I have one of the best teacher voices and raised eyebrow teacher looks there is!

1. What challenges has the pandemic had on your life - as a teacher, mother, caregiver…

- My parents were on lockdown in their assisted living building from March of 2020 until June 11th, 2021!! They moved to assisted living just before Covid life began. As a family we have huge respect and thanks to the directors of Preston Park assisted living complex in Saskatoon. These people have day and night 24/7 kept residents safe! This is all as a family we could have asked for. It’s been so hard for my parents to not to be able to snuggle and hug their grandchildren, go grab a Tim’s coffee if they wanted, or sit down with all of us as a family for Sunday morning “papa pancakes”. But we’ve kept connected virtually, we’ve passed a few coffees through the door, many bags of groceries, and of course many good old fashion phone conversations.

-Another personal thing that has been rough since covid hit has been trying to explain/teach/model to my 13-year-old Autistic son that all the socializing and inclusion we’ve been working on must stop! Not smoothly like we taught it to him, but abruptly with no transitions or first/thens. Since before Ethan’s diagnosis my husband and I worked so, so hard to keep him as social and exposed as we could. We had great support from ECIP (Early Childhood Intervention Programs) and we searched and found great support for Ethan’s Speech and language and his Occupational therapy. Not once have we not done something or at least tried it “because Ethan has autism” or because we “struggled.” Don’t get me wrong, we definitely have had to think outside of the box and alter things, but truly including and exposing Ethan to all those a typical child of his age was our goal. By doing this he gained confidence, learned to be social with peers and used these peers to model his behaviours after.

Now all this inclusion has had to stop! No trips to his favourite Walmart store, no Challenger Blue Jays Baseball, no “13th” birthday party with classroom friends, “online “ classroom learning then “in class” learning but wearing a mask and learning to stay apart from his friends, and probably the most hard and heart breaking, no beloved visits with his Nanas, Papas, Aunties and Uncles! This has sucked and been hard on all of us, but my heart aches now as we slowly begin to re-socialize him to these things again and he is different. He reacts differently to people; he has lost so much in this time and I worry we will not be able to re teach to him the way we could when he was younger and more willing.

2. What are some of the gifts covid life has brought you?

TIME!! I have a hard time slowing down and relaxing, just being! Last year for most of March and then for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year I was able to completely plan my own days. Yes, I did my online learning with my school kids and helped my own sons with their learning, but it looked very different then my regular away from the house 7:15-5:15 kind of day! I liked being able to change laundry in between zoom meetings or go for a walk during my lunch hour with my family. I gained time with my boys that all of us will remember.

3. Who are the ladies who have inspired you in your life and through COVID?

I have kept myself grounded these last months with help from my family, some close friends, and thinking positively!

As a mom, wife, daughter, auntie, teacher, and friend I have gained my inspiration from many ladies in my life. I have an amazing family, extended family, and small group of friends. I have learned, even though we are busy and pulled in many different directions, they are there to offer support and love always.

Most importantly my inspiration comes from my own mom. She was diagnosed very young with Parkinson’s Disease and has been fighting her battle for over 20 years. Through mobility issues, speech impairments, and some memory lose she fights with grit and determination. While I was growing up, she was a stay at home mom and in my later teen years she ran a daycare. Children have always been a huge part of my mom’s life. I felt it as a child, and now see her love flow to my own sons. She’s who I model so many parenting skills after, and who helped me find my passion in children!

I am also inspired by so many caring and dedicated coworkers. As teachers we are driven and determined creatures. Covid has hit us hard! We are goal minded and organized. We also genuinely want to please and work hard. So, when asked to pivot to online learning... we did it! When asked to teach from our homes via zoom.... we did it! When asked to prepare for kids to be back in the classroom... we did it! Wow, did we prepare! Seating plans.... keep kids as close to 6 feet apart as we can, classroom line up......keep direct contacts limited, organize classroom set up to minimize movement.... arrows placed on the floor, stickers placed for out of desk spots, personal desks and supplies clearly labelled, We began to prepare to teach new information not from the curriculum....teaching hand sanitizing, proper mask wearing, what social distancing looks like, and what a cohort is. I really could go on and on but no need.... it’s kind of old news to us teachers, now we have our sights on this year’s finish line.... the end of June, one school year “Covid Style” in the record books! Every Friday we literally do a tiny happy dance showing our excitement for making it one week closer to that finish line of “in-class” learning! Way back in September we as coworkers decided we were in this together and through the good, bad and ugly we are doing it with heads held high and kids best interests at heart!

4. What are you most passionate about and how can we support?

Even before our youngest was diagnosed with autism I had a strong desire to advocate for students with disabilities or disadvantages. After Ethan was born that advocating just became stronger and more personal. Every child regardless of ability has the need for quality best place education. As an educator my personal advice to parents advocating for their own children is to stand strong and don’t settle. In the education world parents who speak up for their children see action, sadly more action sometimes than a teacher would get when seeking support for a student. Support is given more readily to students that have involved parents that continue to speak to the right people and continue to push until they feel their child’s needs are being met. Speak to the teachers, the resource teachers, the principals, and keep going if you are not seeing action and ultimately solutions. At one point in our Ethan’s education we had to speak to an education trustee from the school board to see results! Being a teacher mom of a student with disabilities has advantages and disadvantages. We know what supports are out there for our kids, but we also know how hard it is to receive those supports for deserving kids.

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So grateful for your insights Kim! Thank you for sharing. To you and all the teachers - THANK YOU FOR BEING SO AMAZING!!!!