ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jessica LoGrande, who has been a teacher in Pinellas County for 11 years, says she was in school herself when she decided she wanted to be a teacher.

“I always kept notes of what I liked of teachers and what I didn’t like and tried to embody that in my teaching,” she said.

LoGrande, who currently teaches second grade, has been at Woodlawn Elementary School for nine years, and said she enjoys building lasting connections with her students.

“I spend a lot of time in the first few weeks of school really building the classroom community and trying to uplift everyone, and make sure that everyone is positive and kind,” she said.

“We do a lot of lunches together, we have conversations outside of academic times about our lives," she said. "I share about myself, they shar

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