Recently, there have been many changes in teachers’ roles at Park High School in Livingston, Montana due to short staffing. Keaton Ramm, a teacher at PHS, has experienced one herself this year.
Ramm has been teaching for six years at Park High School, the place where she first began her journey as a teacher. Graduating from MSU with a degree in mathematics, Ramm had reached out to John Gannon, a fellow math teacher, because she was interested in the available teaching position at PHS. It seemed like a perfect fit because Ramm hoped to be able to live in the Livingston area, so she was curious to see Park High School. “I walked in thinking I was getting a tour of the school, and instead, I interviewed on the spot,” Ramm explains.
Ramm loved the school environment and her fellow teachers, so she accepted the job offer to teach Algebra. Although Ramm started as a full-time math teacher, she transitioned into teaching Spanish after Covid struck.
However, this year many teachers changed roles or retired, which left Park High School in need of an additional teacher for Pre-Algebra. Having past experience teaching math, Ramm agreed to fill that role and teach two sections of Pre-Algebra as well as continuing to teach Spanish.
This is the first time Ramm has ever taught both Math and Spanish at the same time, and she has really liked it so far. Ramm says, “I just enjoy learning, so it’s fun to teach in different subject areas and challenge myself.” Although Math and Spanish classes appear very different, “they are both conceptually ways of approaching the world and problem solving,” says Ramm.
Ramm enjoys teaching because she sees it as an opportunity to be a part of her students’ growth, and one of her students, Chloe Goosey, considers her class “fun but challenging.”
Although she may accidentally slip into Spanish sometimes while teaching Math, Ramm is excited to, “play with numbers one class period, and play with words the next.”
