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 Highlights from “Private Schools” panel 10/20/04 Moderator: Ruth Shoemaker, Career Counselor for the College of Arts and Sciences PRESENTERS
B.A. in Folklore from the University of Pennsylvania (1995). M.S.Ed. in Elementary Education from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (1996) Dr. Martha Bryans - Head of School, Friends School Haverford B.A. in History from Bryn Mawr College (1972). M.S.Ed. in Leadership in Professional Education from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (1998). Ed.D. in Education Leadership and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (2000). William Johnston - Chair of Social Studies Department, Nueva Esperanza Academy Charter High School. B.A. in English from Ohio State University (2000). M.S.Ed. in Secondary Education: English from the University of Pennsylvania (2001). Dr. Melinda Yin - Teacher, Friends Central School B.A. in Biology from Swarthmore College (1997). PhD in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania (2002). Julie Mikolajewski - Teacher, Resurrection School in Philadelphia. B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania (2000). M.S.Ed. in Psychological Services from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education (2001). Q & A Jill Shashaty BACKGROUND Senior year, I decided that I wanted to learn more about teaching and participate in a service program after graduating. I wanted cultural immersion. I wanted a program in which I could work for a year and then have the option of doing it again for another year if I liked it. I also wanted to be in a vibrant community of volunteers. RED CLOUD VOLUNTEERS I did a search through career services booklets and learned about a program called Red Cloud Volunteers (http://www.redcloudschool.org/volunteers/volunteers.htm), which involves teaching at one of two schools on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. One is K-8, the other K-12. Most of their staff is full-time and they have a fairly large volunteer program. The year I was there, there were eighteen volunteers out of a total of about sixty. Most of us were right out of college and we lived right by the school. I was there for two years. The school serves six hundred students, most of whom are Oglala Lakota. My first semester, I did not have a teaching certificate, so I was assigned to work on extra-curricular activities and elective courses. About 3 months in, the English teacher resigned and I got the 9th grade teaching position for the next three semesters. My time was spent designing my own curriculum (because there was no set curriculum) that met a wide variety of needs. I remember that in one of my classes I had students at a 4th grade reading level and students at a 13th grade reading level. If you’re interested in volunteer programs, there are a lot of great chances to get experience teaching as well as learn about another culture. Jennifer Gordon BACKGROUND I had no clue I wanted to teach until maybe my senior year. I sub-matriculated into the master’s program in Elementary Education. I never applied for a teaching job. I wanted to try a bit of everything, and I couldn’t see myself only teaching. I ended up being a travel agent for a while after getting my master’s, then worked at Penn’s Alumni Relations and Admissions for three years. All my friends that were in Admissions ended up doing College Counseling, so I decided on that and now I’m at the Peddie School. WORKING AT A PRIVATE SCHOOL You don’t do just one thing. I’m a College Counselor, but I teach Algebra and Community Life class, coach, do dorm duty, I am responsible for Saturday night activities, attend formal, family-style dinners twice a week and have twelve advisees. The duties are not written in your contract but are expected of you. Then there are other things you do because you’re a good member of the community. I am advisor to the Jewish Heritage Club, on several committees, chair the faculty-student senate, helped plan a trip for 9th grade students to the Poconos, evaluate applications for the summer trips that our students go on and I’m in our Shakespeare play this year too. Working at a boarding school is a 24-hour job. FINDING A JOB I used educational search firms, but it was also a matter of networking. Martha Bryans FRIENDS SCHOOL HAVERFORD · Friends School is a pre-6th grade program in Haverford, PA. We have 200 children in three sections: one section of pre-school and pre-K and two sections of kindergarten through 6th grade. ASSISTANT TEACHER POSITION · If you’re starting your career, be open to the possibility of starting as an Assistant Teacher. Look for a mentoring situation in which you’ll get experience and learn a lot in a supportive environment. Many schools have Assistant Teacher positions, especially for young children. BRYANS’S BACKGROUND · I began working at another Friends school in an administrative position (Director of Development and Alumni Affairs). I knew the school inside and out, but from the perspective of describing it to others, not as an integral part of it. I did it for 16 years and was asked to be Acting Head of the school when the Head was on sabbatical. It was a safe appointment for the Head because it didn’t ruffle any feathers with the teaching staff. I found that I loved doing this work, and I began looking for a way to do it. · I hadn’t taught and I hadn’t gone to graduate school, so I left my position to go to Penn’s Graduate School of Education for my master’s degree. I continued on with the Ed.D. program until 2000 and I started searching for a Headship. · I was a candidate for several schools and they were all Friends schools. It’s the educational philosophy I’m most comfortable with and feel it’s the best thing for kids. I was selected for the job, and I feel like it’s a great match between my interests and the needs of the school. William Johnston CHARTER SCHOOLS We (Nueva Esperanza Charter School) are in our fifth year of existence. Charter schools in general are relatively new. Charter schools are publicly funded institutions that are independently run. We are a part of the Philadelphia school system, but we make our own rules, set our own curriculum standards, design our own curriculum and do our own hiring. Our students are from the Philadelphia school system but we have a lot of independence. BACKGROUND I did my master’s at Penn because it had a focus on urban education. I wanted to teach in the city, but I was disillusioned with the city school system. I was happy that I found the charter school as an alternative, because I could still serve inner-city youth without having to deal with the bureaucracy. My position became available while I was still doing my master’s, so I finished my master’s while I was teaching. I started out as an English teacher and worked my way into social studies. My community service led me to teach a Civics course that was coupled with a group from Temple University. I stayed in social studies and have become the head of the department. NUEVA ESPERANZA CHARTER SCHOOL The school is very new, so it’s very dynamic and I have held a lot of roles in it. Charter schools are created by community members who want a specific school that serves a specific group of students in their neighborhood. There are charter schools for architecture and design and a technology-heavy school, for example. There are also content-focused schools and neighborhood-focused schools. We were created by Nueva Esperanza (http://www.esperanza.us), which is a non-profit community development organization. They created the school to serve the North Philadelphia Latino community. It’s a college preparatory school, so there is no vocational work. We operate knowing that many students are coming in from middle schools that have put them behind in reading and math. Last year was our first graduating class, and 80% of those students are now in college. GETTING HIRED The first thing I think about is, “is this person interested in working with urban youth.” Ask yourself that, because it’s a tough job. The school is very peaceful and class sizes are small so safety is not an issue, but you have to be willing to work with kids who have some baggage and may be behind in their academics. I have turned away several very qualified applicants because I got the impression that they were using this job as a stepping stone to a job somewhere else. Dr. Melinda Yin BACKGROUND I got a doctorate in molecular biology, but I found that work in the lab was very isolating. It wasn’t quite social enough for me, and I wanted something that had more impact and would be more satisfying for me. In my third year of grad school I started to find out if teaching really was right for me. I couldn’t do an actual teaching job because I didn’t have the time, but I was able to spend one day a week volunteering at the Franklin Institute (http://www.fi.edu/tfi/info/volunteers.html), which is a science museum. It was a really good fit because it got me working with kids. It showed me that I can explain science to people and that I like working with high school kids. My last year of grad school, I went through the job search. I didn’t get many bites from placement agencies, and the job I ended up with was from a cold call. INTERVIEWING PROCESS The process was an interview asking what I was interested in, why a Friends school, why I was making such a career move. They then had me teach a mock class. WHY PRIVATE SCHOOL? I’m interested in public education and I don’t have certification and I wasn’t interested in going to more school, so that limited me to private school. The pay is not good, but that’s not why you go into teaching. They do compensate you in other ways, though. What I like about teaching in a private school is that I can completely control what I do. If I want to do the liver, I do the liver. If I want to do the kidney, I do the kidney. If I read about a new lab a few days ago and I want to do that, I can. My particular school is very well-funded, so I have really incredible scientific equipment. That makes me feel like I haven’t left science. Last year, we even cloned a gene from a turtle in my class, so that was pretty great. You can really connect with the kids. It’s cliché, but very rewarding. What I like about my school is that I have the most incredible colleagues. They’re so dedicated to that purpose. The feeling that I’m on a team that shares my enthusiasm motivates me every day. DISLIKES ABOUT PRIVATE SCHOOLS The border between students and customers can be blurred at times. Parents may come to you and say something like, “I’m paying this much and my son/daughter is getting a C?” WHAT IS EASY AND WHAT IS DIFFICULT The easiest part about teaching is knowing your area of expertise. The most difficult part was that I had to get used to motivating and connecting with students. I also had to acclimate myself to having my radar on all the time, monitoring students to make sure they’re doing the right thing. ADVICE FOR FIRST-YEAR TEACHERS The advice I would give for people who already have a teaching job is to set realistic goals for yourself. You’re not going to save the world, you won’t turn around that one problem student, you’re not going to become the best teacher in your field. You’ll survive, you’ll learn how the system works and you’ll learn what the community is like. Julie Mikolajewski BACKGROUND I began working as a school counselor when I was doing my master’s. I was counseling students that have drug and alcohol problems. I looked for a job in a Catholic school because I wasn’t certified. I worked for a year in West Philadelphia and I enrolled in Penn’s teacher education program. I now work in northeast Philadelphia at the Resurrection School. We have about 800 students. I teach 5th grade math and science with about 30 students. PLUSES AND MINUSES OF CATHOLIC SCHOOL style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in'· Pluses: Working in a Catholic school is a great way to grow as an educator. I have a mentor teacher, I’m familiar with the principal and uniform and discipline codes are enforced, which is not always the case with other types of schools. style='margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in'· Minuses: You don’t have the best teaching materials or you may have to buy them yourself. There is less salary, less time off, higher expectations, and fewer resources. ADVICE Keep learning about yourself. Don’t get into the classroom and stop learning. Have a good network of teachers for support. I write in my journal, and that helps me keep records of my development and blow off steam. Q&A Key
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