Miss Westbrook was nominated to be the Teacher of the Month! She was asked three questions, and here are her responses:
1: What is it like taking over a class halfway through the year? How has that affected your job?
“When I was initially asked to sub for Ms. Bartley, I was honestly intimidated. Working with grade schoolers for the last three years makes jumping into a high school classroom feel like your freshman year all over again. However, I also knew that I was going to see the former eighth grade students I had just parted with the school here before, and that began to build a comfort zone behind the decision to come in. I believe that it has only affected my job for positive reasons as I am currently working on finalizing my teaching degree – this only gave me an even bigger opportunity than student teaching ever could have. I have had many ups and downs in the classroom, but have learned from each and every one of them. I will say that it has definitely made the decision of where to take my next steps in this district a lot harder to determine.”
2: You just graduated from SWIC, how was it and would you recommend it to others?
“I have been working on finishing my associates degree with SWIC since 2016. I have admired every professor I have had there and it is extremely affordable. There are so many options for aiding you throughout the semester and every single staff member I have had to come into contact with was always welcoming and always guided me exactly where I needed to go on and off campus. I would highly recommend SWIC for several reasons, but mostly for their professors in several different academic departments. I wish I could just take everything else there, too, because I have enjoyed my experience there so much.”
3: What motivates you to wake up in the morning and continue working here at Chester?
“What motivates me the most to wake up in the morning is the fact that I have been given an opportunity to help create our future generations. Whether that is educating students in mathematics, or just being a positive role model in their lives, I absolutely adore all of the students I have had the fortuity to work with. Another motivation I have to help me wake up in the morning is my twin girls. I have every reason in the world to set the best possible example for them that I could, because a parent can only succeed, in my opinion, if their children turn out to be better human beings than they were and I am pretty confident in saying that I think they’re on a pretty decent path for that.”