In order for success in a school to happen, we need students and teachers/ administrators. Students are the main focus of it all. Teachers are rarely talked about as it relates to them and their experiences as a high school teacher. These interviews gave them a reason to reflect on their experiences as a teacher whether for 20+ years or 2 years. The teachers were the following questions:
- What subject do you teach?
- Why do you enjoy teaching this subject?
- What unit or book do you enjoy teaching?
“I teach English, Journalism, AP Literature, and English 101, which is an early college class.
“I enjoy teaching these subjects because I love to hear student opinions. I love when they can get into writing and produce some really great things, and I love hearing their ideas about literature. I also love when they are able to make connections between themselves and the books we read, and they find importance in reading and sharing ideas.
“One of my favorite units is a unit called 'Humans of South High,' where my seniors are getting ready to write their college essays. They would study human interest writing and write human interest pieces about their peers. I like that unit because it’s a great way for students to realize that we all have a story to share and it helps us learn about everybody in the class.”
“I teach chess and psychology class.
“I enjoy teaching psychology because the more we understand each other and ourselves, the more we can learn and learn how to be kind and understand people. I enjoy teaching chess because I love the game.
“In psychology class, I enjoy teaching the life cycle, how people change as they get older. In chess, I love teaching different strategies, the opening and the end games.”
“I teach geometry and AP statistics.
“I enjoy teaching geometry quite a bit because it is the foundation of some of the math that you need to progress through all different levels of Mathematics...
“My favorite unit is trigonometry and the Pythagorean Theorem. As for AP Statistics, it is a new subject for me to be teaching. A big part is doing significant testing with samples as we go forward.”
“I teach Algebra II, AP Pre-Calc. and I am now going to start teaching Math IV.
“I like teaching Algebra and Pre-Calc. because they are both very similar, and they have different functions that students haven’t seen before.”
“My favorite units to teach in Pre-Calc is logarithms or the unit ‘Circles’. My favorite unit in Algebra II is either quadratics or polynomials because there are so many variations of them.”
