What is your favorite part of teaching?
I’ve never been at a site that is more supportive of trying new things and finding a spot for every student. I’ve never felt more comfortable just teaching than I have in these past three years. The daily interactions with the students are so positive and kind.
What made you want to teach?
What made me decide that I really wanted to teach was seeing the good and positive impacts teachers could have on their students’ mental health. When I was younger I would see students being bullied and I wanted to be a teacher to be able to help students who felt sad or upset and just be a positive influence.
What is the strangest thing you’ve encountered at Pitman?
Thinking about the past three years I’ve been here, I know it’s really recent but the strangest thing is all the fire alarms that are going off constantly.
What do you prefer teaching upperclassmen or underclassmen?
Both have exciting facets, I love the concept of freshman. I like to be a positive influence and I feel that every once in a while kids need a break so I like to do fun Fridays. We team build and have fun with a purpose of learning as well. And I like to teach juniors and seniors because I can push the content with them and dive into harder, more intense questions and concepts like curing cancer.
How do you deal with coworker conflict?
There isn’t any coworker conflict, the science department is very strong, people get along and all of the science teachers drive to impact students’ education in a helpful manner.