TEACHER FEATURE
Ms. Vallens Comments on Teaching During COVID
By Mai Sina (Staff writer)
Today I decided to talk to Ms.Vallens, our BVMS Band teacher. I wanted to talk to her about the current situation and how she deals with teaching in this new Covid environment. I asked her a series of questions.
What is your opinion on the current situation we are faced with?
It is very challenging for everybody, we have no guidance from previous experience
How do you follow through with class? What are your procedures?
Masks inside. Then when they are seated in the atrium masks off. Covers for the end of instruments almost like masks for instruments.
So, you guys are practicing in the atrium. How do you feel about that?
It is very very hard because normally when you make mistakes no one can hear, but this everyone can hear. People are always walking distractions.
If you could be somewhere else where would you be?
I would love to be on the blacktop, but there is no shade.
How do your students play instruments with their mouths, if we have to follow all these certain rules?
As long as they are outside they can have their masks off.
If you could give one piece of advice to the students and staff members what would it be?
Remember that it's all temporary. This will end at some point.
Has teaching in this new environment changed your style of teaching?
Yes, things were more mixed up. Games, learning, but now doing it outside is challenging. The order changes how things used to be done.
What frustrates you most in the classroom?
Kids not rising to their potential. If they are really good at something and they are not living up to that.
What’s your teaching philosophy?
Teaching music I just want to teach kids to love music to have an understanding and appreciation. I hope they will take their love of music on with their lives
What is one of the greater challenges that teachers are facing today?
Outside pressures on kids. Social media, family life. It is hard to have kids hearing things from so many different places, hard to figure out that you are all on the same page. I always try to ask students to explain things to me. I may not understand the whole story. But I really try to give kids a chance to tell their side of the story and have a conversation about it.
A Passion for Art
By Mia Sagie (Staff writer)
Mr. Lisko has been teaching for 16 years and is enjoying it. He decided to teach art because he loves art and has been doing art since he was a kid and he wanted to share his passion with future generations of art lovers and it is a joy of his and wanted to pursue it. The most amount of students he has in one class is about 31 students.
Mr. Lisko loves being in-person teaching again, being able to walk around the classroom, seeing his students work, being able to help the students out, give feedback, and meet his students in person. As well as “ art is a visual thing and tactile”, and it is so much easier motivating his students in person and art is a collaborative event and it helps so much with the setting of being in person.
If he were to teach another subject he thinks it would probably be P.E. because he is a very active person and it would be his subject of teaching P.E. if it were not art. Mr. Lisko found it ok. Yet it was a challenge, He had to make goodie bags for his students so they can have their materials, helping students out, see their progress, etc. He found it to be a lot of work, for him to do so much when it is unneeded. I think I agree because he should not have to be doing so much because of a pandemic getting in the way. Another thing that was super hard was to make sure everyone had everything and everything in the same amount.
Mr. Lisko, wanted to say, he loves being a bulldog and he loves his job, his students, and being here.
Interview on School Schedule
By Daniel Kangavari (Staff writer)
I interviewed Ms. Lohse about the school schedule.
How do you feel about the 8 am start of school?
8 AM is a good start time because I don't want to get out of school later.
How do you feel about the rotating schedule?
I love it because different kids are better at participating and have better behavior at different times of the day.
How do you feel about the 9:30 AM start of school on Wednesday?
It's fine because teachers have meetings and before school is a better time to meet than after school.
How do you feel about the 3:15 PM end of the school day?
I feel that 3:15 PM is a good time to end and better than 4:00 PM because at one school I ended at 4:00 PM.
In your opinion how many classes should be in a day?
In my opinion, there should be no more than four classes because I like longer classes because there is more time to dive deeper into the subject.