Keegan-Michael Key On Returning To ‘Abbott Elementary’ And His Connection To The Classroom

Keegan-Michael Key is no stranger to the classroom– and we’re not just talking about his role as Superintendent Reynolds on Abbott Elementary .

Recently, the actor partnered with Lysol for their HERE for Healthy Schools Initiative , showcasing his dedication to promoting health and education. Through this collaboration, Key is helping to announce the Lysol Minilabs Science Kits , aiming to make hands-on learning and germ education accessible to classrooms nationwide.

As the initiative enters its sixth year, it continues to create safe learning environments for students, Key’s involvement in this initiative highlights his passion for education and community well-being, making him an inspiring advocate for healthier schools and a brighter future for all students.

We spoke to him recently about the initiative, his real-life experience in teaching and his return to Abbott Elementary in Season 4.

Can you tell us a bit about the Here for Healthy Schools initiative and your involvement in it?

So, I have teamed up with Lysol for this particular iteration of their Here for Healthy Schools Initiative. And this particular year’s focus is on what are called the Lysol Minilabs Science Kits. What we’re doing is meeting with teachers and students, and Lysol scientists to develop these kits. And then once we finish developing the kits, the kits will be available for teachers that are in Title I schools. They can request one of these kits to be sent out to them so they can use them in their classrooms to promote healthy habits with their students, and also germ education so that they can keep a clean classroom environment.

What are the Lysol Minilabs and how do they make hands-on learning more accessible?

Some of the materials that are going to be in these Minilabs Science Kits will be stickers and worksheets for the students. The stickers can be used to put on germ hotspots like a doorknob, or a countertop, or a desktop. The kids can take that sticker and go, this is where germs are, this is where germs are. There will also be lesson plans for the teachers that they can use in the classroom to help their students with germ education. There will also be things like germ cards that have different types of germs on them that the students can learn about. So real interactive hands-on educational materials will be in these kits.

You’re no stranger to working in education. How has your teaching experience at Second City and Penn State shaped your work as an actor and creative?

Especially at Second City and Penn State, my teaching has helped reinforce habits and techniques and tools that I use in my acting, because it helps me remember. The teaching of it, or re-teaching of it, helps me remember what are the techniques that I use. Now, you don’t approach every role the same way, it depends on the role and your feelings about it and what you’re trying to express and how you want to execute it. But at least the teaching helps keep those techniques fresh in my mind.

Why is hands-on learning so important for student engagement, particularly in the sciences?

I think hands-on learning, especially in the sciences, is important because when you’re doing something in a tactile manner, it can help simplify really complex concepts. For example, if you had a model of a cell or a mitochondria, and you could take it apart, then you’d have the opportunity to go, “Oh, I felt the endoplasmic reticulum”, which is part of the mitochondria. When I was a young person, there was a thing called the visible man, which was a plastic figure of a man that had all of the organs inside of the man. You could take the organs out and hold them. And I think that that helps. It somehow makes retaining that information easier. You’re using more parts of your brain, integrating different parts of your brain when you’re thinking about something and also touching it, and implementing hands-on learning.

You’re back guest starring on Abbott Elementary in season four, what do you enjoy most about working on that series? And is there anything you can tease about the upcoming season?

There was a very collaborative spirit in the show and I think a lot of that comes from the fact that the creator of the show, Quinta Brunson, who is also the lead on the show, is a writer and performer by trade, not just a performer. So, there are times on the fly when you could make a suggestion and we would integrate that into the take. And so you feel like you’re invested in working on the show, because you’re helping create the scenes in a really, hands-on way. As opposed to sometimes it can feel like a passive experience to just kind of learn the lines, regurgitate them, and you move on to the next thing. You feel like you’re part of the architecture, when you can go, “Oh, what if we change it to this? Or we move that over here or cut that and add this line here?”, and she was very open to that, as a writer as a, constructor of the scenic components.

What’s it like working on a back-to-school campaign and working on these science kits? Is it rewarding? How do you feel about it?

Key : Yeah, it’s very rewarding. And I feel like I’m helping the future in a way. I think it’s helpful if kids are excited about learning and they’re engaged about learning. It becomes a very fulfilling thing for me to say, I’m helping kids get a leg up, hopefully, in the upcoming school year.

What advice would you give to parents and educators to create a healthy and stimulating learning environment for children?

I think that there’s something to be said about play in the classroom. And how you can integrate play into a traditional learning system. I think what happens is when you give young people an objective, and then show them the way to get to that objective, there’s a sense of accomplishment that they feel. It’s like, “Okay, here’s the goal, everybody, and do you know how to get to that goal”, and the kids might go, “I don’t know, I wouldn’t know how to go about doing that.” And then you show them techniques of how they can achieve the goal. Then it gives them a sense of well-being. I think that can be very effective in a classroom setting. A lot of that comes from me teaching improvisation for years and years to both young people and to adults, so that you have this sense that I’m working towards something and I feel empowered because I have tools to help me work toward that goal .