We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Genevieve “Gennie” Gorback. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gennie below.

Gennie, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about an important lesson you learned in school and why that lesson is important to you?

Second grade was my hardest year.

I struggled with impulsivity and self control. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Johansson, made me feel like the worst kid in the world. She often made me work in a refrigerator box because I was so disruptive.

Her report card comments read, “Gennie frequently talks out loud and disturbs the class. She is a likable child but needs to improve in this area.” and “Gen is a very good student. She needs to slow down and try to do her best and not her “fastest”! She needs to work on self control. She frequently chooses not to follow classroom rules.” Mrs. Johanssen seemed to believe that children should be seen and not heard. I finished my year with her feeling dumb and useless.

But third grade was an entirely different experience. My teacher, Miss Meylan, helped me harness my excessive energy. She allowed me to do weirdo things like peeling dried glue from my hands and making designs with the flakes or reapplying chapstick over and over while listening to her teach.

It was in Miss Meylan’s 3rd grade class that some test scores qualified me for the gifted program.

WHAT?!?!? I thought I was dumb that whole time!

4th grade was even better. I had Miss Meylan again! A whole ‘nother glorious year with a non-related grownup who let me be me. I savored each day with her, assuming her kindness was a fluke and that I’d go back to feeling like a nuisance the following year.

Miss Meylan recommended that I attend the Science Center for a week with my gifted peers, who were all nice-but-serious smartie-pants boys, who didn’t really feel like peers to me.

The Science Center was this grungy, cluttered, run-down shack at a local park. Stepping into this building was like walking through a portal. It smelled of dust and reptile cages. Shelves were lined with geodes, exotic plants, and animal skulls. I don’t remember the teacher’s name, so I will refer to him as Mr. Sciency.

Mr. Sciency started every day with a riddle. He had us climb rocks and trees and collect water samples from the stream. You read that right, the grown-up told me to climb! He was delighted when we identified plants or caught bugs. Yes, shouting out, “Look! A slug!” was actually encouraged! Where other teachers would remind me to raise my hand, Mr. Sciency responded to my enthusiastic shout outs with an equally enthusiastic “YESS!!!” or “Great connection!”

He trusted each of us to take home one one of the Science Center’s animals each day. There were tons of rodents and reptiles to choose from, but I picked Tiny Tim, the box turtle. I treated this turtle like royalty. I carefully carried his travel terrarium like it was a Faberge egg. I fed him the finest vegetables. I even sang him to sleep.

My mom recently reminded me that Mr. Sciency presented me with some sort of award at the end of the week and everyone was shocked. I don’t remember this, but I do remember how my time in the Science Center made me feel. I only spent 5 days with the guy. I don’t remember much about him, but Mr. Sciency made me feel SEEN. He made me feel HEARD. And he made me feel VALUED.

Mr. Sciency proved to me that Miss Meylan wasn’t the only adult in the world who would appreciate my unique energy. She wasn’t a fluke. There would be others out there in our great big world who would also see me, hear me, and value me.

I wasn’t dumb. I just had to find my people.

I recently visited this park with my own kids. After almost 30 years, seeing this building, surrounded by interesting plants and a babbling stream, still brought back the same wonderful feelings and wonder-full thoughts I had when I was a kid.

I can’t track Mr. Sciency down to thank him. I can’t even find Miss Meylan to thank her. But I can honor their legacies by seeing, hearing and valuing all children.

I grew up to be an educator myself. Currently out of the classroom, I’m an education consultant, training teachers on valuing their students’ unique personality traits, developmentally appropriate practices and learning through play. I hope that every educator I train leaves my session believing that there are no bad kids, and are inspired to treat their students with the same respect I received from Miss Meylan and Mr. Sciency.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am an Early Childhood Educator with a Masters of Education in Teaching and a Multiple Subjects Teaching Credential from University of California, Santa Barbara. I have been working with young children for 15+ years with a focus on the Pre-K/TK age group (4 and 5 year olds). I am the founder of Kindling Education, a boutique education consulting company serving elementary schools, districts, offices of education, and preschools.

In addition to training teachers through Kindling Education, I write Science of Reading based early literacy curriculum for a program called My Sound Town, that supports pre-readers in phonemic awareness and early phonics. I also support educators by promoting learning through play and developmentally appropriate practices through my work on the Board of Directors for the California Kindergarten Association. I was elected board president for the 2021-2023 term, and currently serve the role of Past President.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my college sweetheart, two young daughters, and two cats. In my spare time, I write books for kids and adults, and am on a journey toward getting published.

Have you ever had to pivot?

When the pandemic first hit, I was inundated by friends and acquaintances, who were suddenly thrust into the role of at-home early childhood educators and needed support. I enjoyed explaining developmentally appropriate expectations and learning through play. I started both my business, Kindling Education Consulting, and a Facebook group meant to support parents through lockdown.

The idea was that I’d offer simple education solutions in the Facebook group, and could create more in-depth trainings for parents who engaged my education services. But it didn’t work out as I had planned…

It turns out, most parents did not want to suddenly switch gears and become at-home early childhood educators. They appreciated my easy, low-prep activity suggestions in the Facebook group, but did not engage my consultation services to train them on effective early education. They were in survival mode, not curious about homeschooling their preschoolers!

So I did what no good business-person would do: I worked for free. For the first three months of lockdown, I posted an activity idea an hour. It was A LOT. I eventually switched to posting a few activity ideas a day, and then to just answering questions and supporting parents as needed.

My consulting business was a failure. Until…

A former principal reached out to me to see if I could train her TK (Transitional Kindergarten, which is similar to Pre-K, but housed in California public schools) teachers on early mathematics. I immediately realized that, while my consulting business wasn’t right for most parents, it was perfect for school districts and other educational institutions!

I switched up the wording on my website and have been training educators ever since!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Most of my business is through word-of-mouth. A teacher might attend an in-person training or see me present in a webinar and mention me to their administrators.

Every once in a while, I will turn down a client if they want me to present in an area that is out of my expertise. I
*could* wing it and try to present on more of a variety of topics, but educators are smart and I know they’d see through me right away. It’s worth turning down a client once in a while because I know they’ll think of me when they need someone to present within my area of expertise.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kindling-education.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kindlingeducationconsulting
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gennie-gorback/
• Twitter: @genniegorback
• Other: Writing Website: https://www.genniegorback.com/ Newly launched blog: https://www.thejoysofbooking.com/ Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gorbackpack/ Playing At Home Facebook Group (no longer active): https://www.facebook.com/groups/634611427318096/

Image Credits