By Owen McDonough
Q: How long have you been teaching?
A: "This is my second year teaching, and Chicopee High School is the only school I've taught at!"
Q: What is your opinion on YONDR?
A: "I think it is a great idea, especially as someone who teaches students, because they are distracted on phones all the time. It's hard to teach when someone's attention isn't on you."
Q: What do you most enjoy and least enjoy about your job?
A: "I love it when students get what they are doing. The moment a lesson clicks for a student is the best. My least favorite part of the job is when I'm teaching a lesson and I'm getting nothing out of the students--when they don't return my energy."
Q: Have you ever had other jobs before teaching?
A: "I used to be a waitress at Olive Garden before I began teaching."
Q: What made you want to get into teaching ?
A: "The idea of helping people for a living was appealing to me, so I figured teaching was the perfect fit."
Q: What was your :I almost quit" moment as a teacher?
A: "Getting cursed out by students and the overall disrespect that sometimes comes with teaching has made me sometimes question leaving. But I'm still here!"
Q: What was your ´this job is totally worth it" moment as a teacher?
A: A moments that stands out for me was when first started teaching and went into an IEP meeting for a student. I heard that student cheer for me as I walked into the meeting. Knowing that students see me in that way makes it totally worth it."
Q: What is the most difficult daily aspect of your job?
A: "I got into teaching to teach. However, I often find myself babysitting more that I teach. I have to give reminders about behavior, and redirect students half the time when I'm supposed to be teaching a lesson."
Q: How do you spend your breaks and summers?
A: "One of two ways. I either work a side job or I travel. I'm never doing nothing."
Q: Why do you teach what you teach?
A: "I got the idea of becoming a Special Education teacher while completing an internship at Chicopee Comprehensive High School, which I also graduated from."
Q: What is the craziest thing that happened to you on the job?
A: ̈"It's always crazy to me when my own coworkers ask me where I'm 'supposed to be' while I'm walking in the hallways because I look like I could be a student in the school. But I've gotten used to it."
Q: If you knew then what you know now, would you still have decided to get into teaching?
A: "Yes, I definitely would have. Just a small amount of good is enough for me and goes a long way."
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