Thanks for returning to the Enky Inc. blog! Today we have a
great addition to our American Education Week content: an interview with an
Elementary School teacher from New York City. She has been a teacher for a couple
of years now & teaches in a charter school in Brooklyn. In this interview,
we’ll learn about some of the experiences, challenges, & learning
experiences she has had during her time as an Elementary School teacher, as
well as the advice she has for those considering teaching as a profession. Now
before I ramble on any longer, I’ll let our teacher Paige Kane take over from
here!
Do you teach in a public or private school
setting & what grade do you teach?
I teach in a Charter School setting and I teach fifth grade.
Do you specialize in a specific subject or
do you teach multiple subjects?
Since I teach elementary school it is still general
education. I teach all subjects throughout the day, including English/Language
Arts (ELA), Math, Science, Social Studies, & Writing.
Do you feel as though you have a good
degree of control or discretion over what you teach, how you operate your
classroom, and how students are assessed? Or are these factors generally
controlled by the school or district?
My school follows a common core curriculum. Our math and ELA
lessons are scripted and from the Engage NY curriculum. In this sense I don’t
feel I have much autonomy in the way the lessons are taught, however, I do find
it helpful that in these lessons I know I am hitting all of the standards and
learning targets for the grade I teach.
Overall, I do feel I have a great sense of autonomy in how my classroom
is managed and assessed.
Can you give an example of a lesson you
taught to your class recently?
I work at a Science/ Environmentally based school and we are
very lucky to have partnerships with other organizations. One such organization
is Construction Kids. For a science lesson we taught the students about
variables and how they can affect an experiment. We identified the independent,
dependent, & control variable. Our class was then able to take a trip to
Construction Kids where they built catapults and manipulated variables. They
worked to hammer all of the pieces together and then tested them. The students
had to make a hypothesis based on the variable they decided to change. Such
variables included changing the tension of the rubber band, changing the length
of the arm, changing the angle of the arm and using different size projectiles
to launch from their catapults. This was a great lesson because we really got
to teach this concept in the classroom, but then the students actually got to
see the real life application of what they learned.
What has been the impact of standardized
testing, if it has had any, in your teaching experience?
I have been very lucky in this domain because I have a
principal who does not want teaching to revolve around test prep but around
conceptual learning. That being said I do feel the pressure for my students to
perform well on state tests because overall it does affect the rating of your
school and how you are viewed as a teacher.
Have you worked with English as a Second
Language (ESL) students in your classroom before? What was that experience like
& what language(s) were the students speaking?
I have worked and currently work with ESL students. When I
was student teaching I worked in a school on the Lower East Side which had
predominantly Chinese immigrant children. Many children came in not speaking a
word of English (and this was a third grade classroom). In these instances I
worked one-on-one with the students on basic and necessary vocabulary and
decoding skills. For example, this would be identifying a word and matching it
to the picture with its meaning. It is definitely a tedious experience and can
become very frustrating for the teacher. However, I can imagine going to a new
country and not knowing the language and imagine the amount of frustration I
would feel, and this is what these students feel. I have also worked with
Spanish speakers and children from Africa who speak different languages and
dialects based on where in Africa they came from.
Is teamwork a big part of your job? If so,
can you explain how & give some examples?
Teamwork is a big part of my job at the school I currently
work in. I work on what is called a “PLT” or “Professional Learning Team.” This
is the group of people who teach the grade. For example there are three fifth
grade classrooms with two teachers in each so I have six people on my team. In
order to create consistency throughout each grade level and what each class is
learning, we plan all of our lessons together as a team. We also have a period
called intervention where we group students based on need between the three
classrooms. We will “share” our students during this period and it helps to continue
and foster a sense of community within our team. We get a better understanding of all of the
students in our grade level. On a basic sense of teamwork, we will run off
copies for each other or just give suggestions or encouragement on lessons or how
to handle difficult students.
What is your average day like?
The misconception that people have about teachers is that we
teach core subjects from 8-3 and that is our whole day. We are responsible for
up to 28 children at a time and that means not only for their learning but also
for their emotional wellbeing. My day consists of teaching the core subjects of
ELA, writing, math, social studies and science but it also consists of making
sure my students have had breakfast, understanding why a student may be walking
into the room looking sad and how I am going to make sure that student is still
able to learn today. It is understanding
that each student has a distinct personality and learning style and knowing how
I am going to reach every student so that every student is learning. On some
days it means calling parents after school, making copies and going to
meetings. So while we do have a schedule and routine that we follow daily, I
would say there is no “average” day for a teacher.
What made you choose the profession of teaching?
Specifically, why did you choose the elementary level to teach?
I chose to teach elementary school because I really like
this age group. They still have an excitement about learning and an excitement
about coming to school every day. With older students you are dealing with a
lot of physical and emotional transitions that come with the age. I wanted the
focus of my day to be teaching and learning.
What is the hardest part about your job?
The hardest part about my job is closing the gap. I need
students to be able to master certain standards in order to move on to the next
grade. However, I have students that come in at the beginning of the year
(fifth grade) and don’t know their multiplication tables or when to use a
period. It’s a struggle of how far I can go back to fill these gaps and still
make sure I get through everything in the grade level curriculum.
What is your proudest moment as a teacher?
I honestly don’t know if I could pinpoint my proudest moment
as a teacher but overall seeing a struggling student finally grasp a concept
that they have had difficulty with and knowing that you were the one that got
them there always feels very rewarding.
How has becoming a teacher changed your
outlook on life/the world?
Teaching has taught me patience and really opened my eyes to
the discrepancies in the education system.
What advice would you give someone who is
considering entering the field of teaching, specifically elementary school?
I would tell them patience, patience, patience. Be patient
with even your most difficult student. Every child wants to learn if they can.
There will be days where you will cry and you will question your decisions
because you will feel like you’re not making that difference that you set out
to. Believe me, you are. Be patient with your students but also with yourself.
Going to graduate school can teach you what a perfect classroom will be like
but in all honesty, until you are in a classroom with 28 faces looking back at you,
you won’t truly understand what teaching means. As a first year teacher, be
patient with yourself because while you are the one leading this class, you too
will be learning more than you ever could in graduate school and it is all
worth it.
Thanks so much to our Elementary School teacher, Paige Kane,
for sharing her experiences with us this week. Be sure to check back here &
on our social media pages all week for more great American Education Week
content. See you next time!
