By Lily Appleby • The Cardinal Editorial Intern
Whether you’re a teacher, parent, or student, the beginning of a new school year can undoubtedly be a stressful time. Thankfully, Inge Stannik has shared her top tips on how to manage the 2022 – 2023 upcoming term.
Tell us about your time teaching in the Central Bucks School District?
I worked for the Central Bucks School District from 1999 until 2022 and taught grades 8 – 12. I began as a long-term substitute in German and ended as a full-time high school Biology teacher. My German and Biology students called me “Frau” (which, by the way, is totally inappropriate in the German context as it means “Mrs.” or “woman”. Imagine!).
TIPS FOR TEACHERS:
• Stay true to yourself…The teaching profession can be all-consuming. Celebrate, strengthen, and share your own gifts and celebrate those of others equally so.
• Prioritize the work load…Rather than try to find more time to do all the things you want to do with your class, find ways to make the important things happen.
• Don’t forget about your wellbeing… prioritizing means you can practice self-care and enrichment, and feel like a rested, understanding, and motivating human each day you enter the classroom.
• Respect and know your students…Create an environment where your students have choices and see connections to their world. Acknowledge their frustrations and resolve them together.
• Stay up to date…Incorporating popular trends constructively rather than bucking them, and sharing the lore of times gone by all help to keep things fresh, inspirational, relevant, and real for kids.
• Find a comfortable routine…In order to create a base on which all students can function, finding a comfortable routine for students (with a surprise thrown in there regularly) is a good place to start.
TIPS FOR STUDENTS:
• Challenge yourself…Students should challenge themselves as best they can and try to be open to challenges posed by others.
• Find what works best for you…As teachers, one of our many jobs is to ask students to seek to recognize their passions, strengths, and areas for growth. Find what learning tools, strategies for time management and organization methods work best for your success.
• Academics aren’t for everyone…For some, choosing school as a full-time focus is a great fit. For others, extracurriculars will be the life-line to the next phase in life.
TIPS FOR PARENTS & GUARDIANS
• Acknowledge the importance of school in your student’s life…Jobs can feel like drudgery. A student’s job is school. If an adult takes interest in a student’s job (school) and openly recognizes and supports the efforts of the student, discussing successes and failures, getting excited, curious, or even disbelieving about content, the student themselves will feel excitement and greater meaning for the opportunities school brings.
• Each child is different…Many assignments or jobs in life ask for commitment. The challenge for an adolescent to be a good student and do their best in school is one of those jobs. From my own children, I recognize that each student varies in life goals and ambitions, thus the level of commitment will be different for each child. This is okay.
• There is success beyond the classroom… Perhaps being a “B” or “C” student and finding joy in activities offered outside of the classroom is the life balance that one adolescent needs. As adults, part of our job seems to be encouraging a child to be a great version of themselves, regardless of how they fit into the established school system.
Finally, Inge would like to wish everyone in the community a manageable transition into the new academic year, with understanding and compassion towards all. It’s a big transition. Happy retirement Inge!
Lily Appleby is a senior at Central Bucks West High School and has a passion for literature and writing. She is currently an editorial intern for The Doylestown Cardinal.
Add Comment