By: Allie Pizzemento
1/4/16
It was shortly before eight o’clock
on a Tuesday evening when my older cousin Michelle knocked on my door. Having
just come from her running club, she was clad in brightly colored athletic
gear, leggings and hoodie, as well as a water bottle in hand. My mom greeted
her with a wide smile and they shared some comfortable small talk while I got
myself prepared for the interview in my basement. She joined me shortly after,
tucking herself into the leather recliner while I stretched out on the couch.
Allie Pizzemento:
Alright, so. What exactly is your teaching position?
Michelle
Daus: Depending on what classes run each year, I teach a little more Business
or a little more Family and Consumer Science, but that's a really long name so
we just call it Home and Careers. I always teach Home Ec for the eighth graders
and with the high schoolers, it just depends on the electives that run.
AP: Why do you
feel these things are important for high schoolers to learn?
MD: I think that
they’re important because they happen everyday in life. The other classes are
important, because I can’t say that they’re not [Laughs], but not everybody
uses all the things in the other classes. In some of my classes, regardless of
what you do when you get out of high school, you're going to use it. For
instance with my cooking classes, I make sure that people are able to feed
themselves. My personal finance classes, they know how to handle their money.
My career exploration classes, they know how to apply for jobs. It also gives
me an opportunity to teach some of the skills that people need, but aren't part
of other curriculums, like problem solving and teamwork and communication.
AP: Do you think
that schools without classes similar to the ones you instruct are making a
mistake? What would be your pitch to convince schools without these classes to
install them?
MD: Well,
obviously I think they’re making a mistake [Laughs]. It’s really frustrating to
teach something that so many people do think is valuable, but is always the
first thing to go when budgets get tight. So, I think that I would say to an
administrator, “Describe to me your ideal graduate,” and I would expect them to
say things like “someone who's confident, someone who's a problem solver,
someone able to persevere,” And I’ll say, “Okay, where in their other classes
are they getting those skills?” Depending on the teacher, they might be getting
some of those skills in their other classes, but I think that i would be able
to very easily prove to them how my classes teach those things.
AP: What are your
favorite units to teach?
MD: It really
depends on the class. With Home Ec, I love the finance unit because we do a
really cool money management project where the kids earn money for various jobs
in the class and they can spend their money and I’ll hit ‘em with unexpected
expenses. As far as whole classes go, my favorite business class is Sports and
Entertainment Marketing because I think marketing is a lot of fun. And with the
cooking, I really love baking, but any of it is great. [Laughs]
AP: How has your
experience been working with teenagers as such a young teacher?
MD: It’s gotten
easier the longer I’ve been doing it. It's a lot easier to teach the eighth
graders because they perceive a bigger age difference, but when I first started
I was only, like, five years older than the seniors, that was a little weird,
but I was fortunate because at my school the kids are pretty nice, so they
didn't really give me a hard time. They actually like the younger teachers a
lot more than the older teachers, which is great, except for now I’m afraid to
get old. I didn't have too much of a problem with them being like “Whatever,
you’re my age, you can't tell me what to do.” It was more so that we were able
to talk about things, so they liked me, so they didn't give me a hard time.
AP: Any advice for
new teachers working with high schoolers or with the same type of curriculum?
MD: I’d say for
new teachers working with the curriculum, advocate for yourself. There's a lot
of parents who see a lot of value in what you teach, and the administrators
will see value in it, but the state puts so much emphasis on English and math
that you just have to keep reminding them that you’re there, so when it comes
to budget cuts it doesn't even occur to them to cut you. And also, establish
good relationships with the kids so that they want to take your classes. Don't
be afraid of teenagers, just be fair. Lay out your expectations and then stick
to them.
AP: How do you
feel about the amount of testing students go through? As a teacher do you find
it helpful or unnecessary?
MD: On paper, I
can see sort of where it's coming from, because it's really important to always
be accessing students. At the end of the year you can't just be like “Oh wait,
you guys didn't learn all that stuff?” You always need to be checking for
understanding. As a teacher, it's frustrating because there's so much riding on
the tests that you have to coach students on how to take the test, which goes
against a lot of why you wanted to be a teacher in the first place. You
sacrifice some of the things that you wanted to do or lessons that maybe would
have come up, teachable moments, because you don't have time to cover
everything that's on the test.
AP: What are the
pros and cons of teaching at a small school?
MD: Well pros, I
know all the kids except for the seventh graders. Even the students not taking
my classes, I still know who they are. You just figure it out. You really get
to know students, which helps make relative classes and connections to the
content, The cons, sometimes I can only offer one section of a class, and if
you’re not free when that section is offered, then you totally miss out on the
class. What goes along with that is that my school day is very busy, when most
teachers are preparing lessons for one or two classes, I'm preparing lessons
for six. Sometimes I forget what class I'm even standing in. [Laughs]
