Post by title1parent on Jun 1, 2009 5:16:11 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1600729,2_1_AU01_TEACHER_S1-090601.article
A satisfying first year for 'new' teacher
June 1, 2009
By PAUL SULLIVAN For The Beacon News
ST. CHARLES -- Nearing the end of her first year as a high school physics teacher, Carole Neville believes she has made a difference.
And that feeling has been a long time coming.
Neville, 50, an electrical engineer by training, spent more than 20 years in program and project management with several Fortune 500 companies.
Five years ago, she left her high-paying corporate job to be a stay-at-home mom and to transition into teaching. Last summer, she attended a special course at Benedictine University for professionals from other disciplines who wanted to teach.
Last fall, as she was beginning her first week at St. Charles East High School, Neville said assignments and projects in companies come and go.
"In five years, no one will even remember them," she said. "In five years of teaching, I will have made a difference."
Last week, as her first year in the classroom was drawing to a close, she said she's made a difference already.
"It was everything I wanted it to be," Neville said of the past school year. "I'll happily do this for the next 10 or 15 years. After that I'll volunteer."
This summer, Neville is planning on tutoring students.
But like all satisfying jobs, it was not without hard work.
"Teachers are public figures," said Neville, "and the job carries a lot of responsibility to both the students and their parents. It was a challenging transition, not unlike the first year of having a child. I can honestly say, though, I looked forward every day to walking down the hall to my classroom."
To learn the names of her 125 students as soon as possible, Neville took home pictures of the teenagers to memorize.
"In a month, I knew their names. By Christmas, I felt I knew the students," she said.
Standard protocol calls for teachers to be known by their last name.
"When I e-mailed parents and students at home, I signed the e-mails as Carole Neville. A few of them slipped in a 'Carole' occasionally in class."
However, Neville said she felt not one moment of disrespect during the entire year.
"I never felt intimidated. It's about building relationships and connecting personally. You have to be yourself and honest and fair. A faí§ade is not what works. My students absolutely know I care about them."
Teaching is very different from the corporate world, said Neville.
"In corporate, you might have five meetings a day, but then there would be some down time. There's no down time in a teaching day," she said.
"It's very high energy and more intense. The teachers' lounge is like a green room where we exchange strategies and prepare for the next act."
A successful teaching day for Neville is when the students come in, work hard, learn something and leave laughing, which is probably what they did when she played the tune of "Yankee Doodle" on a turkey baster.
"We were studying sound, the difference between string and wind instruments. (A trombone, e.g., is played by adjusting the column of air.) I filled the turkey baster with water, squeezed the bulb for notes and blew across the top of the tube."
One of Neville's students asked her, "Do you love physics?" The first-year teacher, already a veteran, said she thought about it a moment and replied, "I love teaching physics."
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She could basically write her ticket to teach anywhere....Physics is the HARDEST teaching position to fill.
A satisfying first year for 'new' teacher
June 1, 2009
By PAUL SULLIVAN For The Beacon News
ST. CHARLES -- Nearing the end of her first year as a high school physics teacher, Carole Neville believes she has made a difference.
And that feeling has been a long time coming.
Neville, 50, an electrical engineer by training, spent more than 20 years in program and project management with several Fortune 500 companies.
Five years ago, she left her high-paying corporate job to be a stay-at-home mom and to transition into teaching. Last summer, she attended a special course at Benedictine University for professionals from other disciplines who wanted to teach.
Last fall, as she was beginning her first week at St. Charles East High School, Neville said assignments and projects in companies come and go.
"In five years, no one will even remember them," she said. "In five years of teaching, I will have made a difference."
Last week, as her first year in the classroom was drawing to a close, she said she's made a difference already.
"It was everything I wanted it to be," Neville said of the past school year. "I'll happily do this for the next 10 or 15 years. After that I'll volunteer."
This summer, Neville is planning on tutoring students.
But like all satisfying jobs, it was not without hard work.
"Teachers are public figures," said Neville, "and the job carries a lot of responsibility to both the students and their parents. It was a challenging transition, not unlike the first year of having a child. I can honestly say, though, I looked forward every day to walking down the hall to my classroom."
To learn the names of her 125 students as soon as possible, Neville took home pictures of the teenagers to memorize.
"In a month, I knew their names. By Christmas, I felt I knew the students," she said.
Standard protocol calls for teachers to be known by their last name.
"When I e-mailed parents and students at home, I signed the e-mails as Carole Neville. A few of them slipped in a 'Carole' occasionally in class."
However, Neville said she felt not one moment of disrespect during the entire year.
"I never felt intimidated. It's about building relationships and connecting personally. You have to be yourself and honest and fair. A faí§ade is not what works. My students absolutely know I care about them."
Teaching is very different from the corporate world, said Neville.
"In corporate, you might have five meetings a day, but then there would be some down time. There's no down time in a teaching day," she said.
"It's very high energy and more intense. The teachers' lounge is like a green room where we exchange strategies and prepare for the next act."
A successful teaching day for Neville is when the students come in, work hard, learn something and leave laughing, which is probably what they did when she played the tune of "Yankee Doodle" on a turkey baster.
"We were studying sound, the difference between string and wind instruments. (A trombone, e.g., is played by adjusting the column of air.) I filled the turkey baster with water, squeezed the bulb for notes and blew across the top of the tube."
One of Neville's students asked her, "Do you love physics?" The first-year teacher, already a veteran, said she thought about it a moment and replied, "I love teaching physics."
------------------------------
She could basically write her ticket to teach anywhere....Physics is the HARDEST teaching position to fill.