naples classroom
It’s August in Florida and we all know what that means… Back to School! This is the month when summer vacation begins to slow down and excitement for the new school year runs high. Parents are busy buying clothes and supplies, teachers are getting ready to welcome their new classes, and students are anxious to meet their teachers, see old friends, and make new ones.
In our modern world, teachers and schools function within a very test-driven society. In Florida, many parents aren’t aware that most of what their children do during the school day isn’t decided by the teacher or even the school district, but rather, the state legislature. Each year, during its annual legislative session, lawmakers institute requirements for Florida public schools. This body decides how many minutes of reading and physical fitness children will have each day, provides guidelines for school districts on what children should learn in various areas, and makes decisions about the courses students need to pass to meet requirements for promotion and graduation.
Today’s successful classroom teacher is a highly educated, trained, flexible and dedicated professional who has the ability to take the ever-changing requirements for what our students should know and turn them into meaningful learning experiences. The modern teacher makes use of modern technology and prepares to reach all of his or her students with their individual learning styles and needs. Sound like a big job? It is. Luckily, Southwest Florida has many teachers who are passionate about student success and consider teaching as much of a life calling as a profession. I had the opportunity to interview some of the area’s most innovative and inspiring teachers, all of which indicated that their choice of profession came to them early in life and was something they aspired to throughout their own childhoods and time in school. Of all the amazing and inspiring teachers I interviewed, two are profiled in detail.
Jennifer Brown, Middle School Science Teacher
Q. Why did you become a teacher?
I decided to become a teacher because I believe our children today need personal inspiration more than ever to find their way in life. I want to help students understand just how exciting a place the world is, and how important it is for them to learn outside the classroom, wherever they are. There is a life-time of exciting things to learn about out there.
Q. What do you consider your greatest challenge?
Keeping up with what students are most interested in and helping them see how they can use their own abilities to explore and find answers. With the Internet, students have all the “answers” to every science “question” one could possibly ask, but I want to give them more. I want to equip them with the skills they need to find their own answers with inquiry and experimentation.
Q. What do you find rewarding?
I love seeing a student’s face when they have an “aha” moment. For example, sometimes experiments we do in science do not give instant results. We make predictions, and then we wait. I see the tension building in students – they check these experiments daily while they are running, and they are more often than not very skeptical about whether they will actually work. But then, when they are surprised by a scientific result that finally comes through – well, you can see the educational results in their expressions!
Q. Describe a lesson or project that has been particularly successful.
We recently did a simple experiment, growing plants without soil. When plants started to sprout, I got a lot of, “Ms. Brown, I didn’t think this would work. I always thought plants needed soil to grow in order for photosynthesis to happen.” It isn’t just the surprise, it’s the growing confidence in the method of science, and I love working with an age group that is so able to consider the possibility of the “failure” of an experiment that their teacher has set up to run over a period of weeks, as if I didn’t know whether it would work in the first place!
Vicki Weidle, Third Grade Teacher
Q. Why did you become a teacher?
At an early age I always wanted to be a teacher. I would watch my teachers and be inspired. One of my teachers in high school was such as inspiration to me. She was always positive and a confidence builder! As I neared graduation another teacher in my high school told me she thought I’d make a great teacher. I chose that at my career path and have never looked back.
Q. What do you find rewarding?
The reward I get out of teaching is helping students challenge themselves. My role in the classroom is to facilitate a community of learning at all levels. My reward is when I’ve met all their needs and see that they are learning above and beyond in a classroom as well as making gains in all areas. They feel proud of themselves for their successes as well.
Q. What keeps you in the profession?
The children, plain and simple!
Q. Describe a lesson or project that has been particularly successful.
I really enjoy searching for activities that will go with the curriculum. Enhancing the curriculum and finding unique hands-on experiments, lap books, mentor text, writing projects, and research projects is essential to the learning experience. I could go on and on, but to talk about just one I can’t. I enjoy creating to enhance and enrich the curriculum that we teach our students.
Nicole Flesvig Bruland is a mother of two, writer, and education professional. She is bringing her passion for world languages and cultures to local kids and adults through Global Kids Learning Adventures and Fleur de Lys Language Academy. In her free time, Nicole loves to travel with her husband and two sons.