- One of the things I love about my job is there's never a dull day (chuckles) ever.

(soft inspirational music) My name is Emily Phillips.

I'm a teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School, and I teach speech and language.

I guess that's what I teach.

I'm like, they just call me the speech teacher (laughs) so I'm not sure.

- She's an advocate for students.

That is at the forefront of everything she does.

And so, I just think she's such an asset for public education.

- I was fortunate enough to have a younger brother who needed speech services when he was about two or three years old, and that was my first taste of speech therapy.

And it was amazing.

I watched how it changed his life, and his ability to communicate with other people.

And after that, I knew that that was the job for me.

I wanted to help other people find their voice, and to be able to communicate their wants and needs.

- [Emily] Put your earphones on your ears.

- [Student] Put your earphones on your ears.

- [Emily] Beautiful R. (bell dinging) - I spend a lot of my day teaching kids how to make, I have a little mouse puppet that I pull out, and we adjust the tongue and we say, "Okay, this is where "it goes for the S," and I feel very passionate about it.

And I love teaching 'em you put your tongue between your teeth, like a hamburger (laughs), and it's just, it's so fun.

So fun to do.

Your tongue went like this.

Tongue stays in for our S sound.

Bicycle.

Your turn.

- Bicycle.

- [Emily] There it is.

- You know, sometimes we'll have children that are just more challenging, and there's teachers who can get frustrated.

And we were talking about a challenging student and what she did, "She said, oh, I'm so excited.

"My work can start now."

And it was so refreshing.

It was such a different way to think about kids, as she sees it, not as a challenge, but more of an opportunity.

I feel like that has changed my outlook.

I think it has really been so great for this school.

And I think that's amazing.

- I feel like I have an awesome job because I get to look at the whole child.

- So she, of course, is helping children with articulation, with expressing themselves, but she really is helping them to communicate.

She sees it as a life skill.

- And I get to look at so many different facets of what makes them who they are.

- And so, what she does in her work with students goes way beyond the classroom.

I really think she approaches it like a detective.

It's not a deficit model.

It's not, oh, this child is making things more difficult.

It's just, what is the child trying to tell us?

What is a more productive way for them to communicate?

She's giving them the tools they need to be successful, and I think it makes them feel great.

- I get to be able to see into that little child's brain a little bit, and to understand what they need.

And that feels like a super incredible piece of teaching that I get to do that.

- [Emily] What would be your feeling if you saw a bear?

- [Student] I would feel shocked (chuckles).

- [Emily] You'd feel shocked?

That's a good way to describe it.

It's really important to me that our students come to our school and feel safe, and it's very empowering to be an adult in their lives, and be able to have those one-on-one connections.

And I think that that's what makes my job and me unique.

- She just does it because that's who she is, and she's thinking about her students and what's best for them.

- I remember from day to day, "Hey, did you get to go home and build "that airplane out of Legos?"

Or "tell me about, it was your mom's birthday "over the weekend.

How did you celebrate?"

And I get to have those individual conversations that builds connection and trust.

And we love each other and are grateful to be on this crazy speech journey together (chuckles).

(soft music)