School in the area will start soon, but teachers have been preparing for students' return for months.
Stanford University Math Teacher Janine Cinta-Sass has been teaching since 2000, marking her 11th year at Stanford. An accomplished teacher, Cinta-Sass teaches a variety of math courses to students in grades 7-12, including AIS, Geometry, Algebra II, Introduction to Calculus, and Calculus I and II. Cinta-Sass said while she is excited for her students to start school in September, planning begins in January.
“To be honest, it's before the end of the school year,” she said. “Preparing for September usually starts in January of the previous year, with labs and other equipment for the next year and preparing for the new curriculum.”
“You get your materials in January and then you factor that into your budget,” Sint-a-Sass continues, “and then you evaluate, 'What did we need this year that we didn't have?' and then you prepare lab materials if you're doing labs, you have really good digital resources, you prepare and get all kinds of textbooks and things like that. It never really stops. There's never a moment where you think, 'Okay, I'm going to prepare for next year,' because you're already doing it.”
Some of the preparations are practical, sources said.
“The most important part of my job as a teacher is preparing the classroom, which takes days,” said Courtenay O'Hara, a kindergarten teacher at Unatego. “I try to get as much done at home as I can over the summer because when school starts, I have until Thanksgiving to get my home work done and then I'm looking forward to Christmas. So ideally, I'd like to get as much done over the summer so I can focus on the classroom. I spend a lot of time on that and I don't like having a lot of stuff on the walls, so I try to keep it to a minimum. I know it's scary for kids, because it's often their first time away from home and their first time in a classroom. It's important to me that they want to come to school every day.”
“We have a lot of furniture — art easels, sensory bins, blocks — and we have a lot of furniture, so it has to be safe, but for me it's more important that it's cozy, welcoming and bright,” continued O'Hara, who is in her 13th year as a teacher. “I want my students to come into my classroom and feel safe and loved, even though they're scared as they normally are.”
Morris English teacher Julene Waffle has been teaching since 1998. This year she teaches 11th and 12th grade level classes and college credit classes. She said there are about 320 students at Morris Central.
“Every year we have to re-store classrooms,” she said. “Some teachers have to move entire classes, so we have to prepare a lot of boxes because we're not teaching the same thing every year. We also have a lot of paperwork, class rosters, new lesson plans, sorting through old stuff, adding things, researching, etc. We have to think about school requirements in January, and[those supplies]are coming in now.”
“It's not just about the summer vacation. Last year, I was planning new units, and I was reading some books over the summer to plan new units,” Waffle continues. “We have common readings. They're the same books we're studying at Oneonta State, so I'm reading them and planning. And you're doing cross-curricular work. And it helps students understand that what they're learning in this classroom can be applied elsewhere, and vice versa. I'm always looking at new things and introducing them, otherwise it gets boring. I'm making new plans, trying new literature. I've been teaching Hamlet and Of Mice and Men since I've been here, and it's never old because it's always new to the students. So if I'm excited about it, the students get excited about it.”
“We have to completely clear out the room, so we put everything back and set it up in a way that maximizes the space,” echoed Brianne Thompson, who teaches music to Morris students in grades 3 through 12. “Then I go back through all of my slides and lessons and take everything I've learned and revise it to meet the needs of all my students. Then I look at things that didn't go the way I wanted them to and do some problem-solving. For example, I might set up a sensory corner in the classroom for some of my students, or I might think about things that kids have asked for but didn't have on hand and make sure we have them.”
Thompson will begin her second year as a teacher in September.
Another big part of the preparations, sources said, is getting to know the students before September.
“You always have to know what your gaps are for your next class,” Sinta Sass said. “My teacher teaches seventh grade, and they're … especially with COVID, they're taking reference tests that let us know what skills they're lacking and where they need to improve. So if they have gaps, we have to fill them and we really need to get to know our students as they grow. We live in a very small school district, so we already know our students, so we're always preparing for next year. I'm going to teach math 8, but I've been learning about them from the year before.”
“I think there's a misconception that once the lesson plans are done, that's it,” Waffle said, “but all lesson plans are not the same. We make them less or more difficult depending on what the students are up to, so we have to meet with teachers at different grade levels and figure out what their students are up to.”
“I thought it was just wash, rinse and repeat, the same thing every year,” Thompson said. “But every kid is different and has different needs. What your third graders needed last year might not be what your third graders need next year. So you have to think hard and come up with fun, new things that will interest them.”
Sources said personal and professional growth is also part of the preparations.
Thompson said she started her summer vacation with 27 hours of continuing education conferences.
“The way I stay excited about this is to keep changing and adding new things,” Waffle said. “If we were doing the same thing we did in 2000, we wouldn't be teaching the right things anymore, because the world has changed. There are new technological apps, new educational tools, new ways of thinking and accessing new ways of thinking. It's not that traditional ideologies and beliefs are changing, it's just that having a broader worldview than before is becoming more widespread. If we don't change, we're doing our students a disservice.”
“I think the most important thing about being an adult in general is being a lifelong learner,” Sinta Sass said. “Having humility and the ability to learn is paramount, especially collaborating with others. There are some really great teachers out there.”
“For me, it's like a sigh of relief. If I can't get something, I can just work with other teachers,” she continued, noting that last year she collaborated with the Catskill Forest Association on a grant to teach history and geometry outdoors. “It piques students' interest when they see you working with other students. If the teacher finds it interesting and engaging, the kids are going to be interested and curious. It's kind of like a round robin, and it's really humbling. So in the off-season, I'm gathering materials and ideas and doing professional development. I'm always trying to educate myself and be better than I was the year before. A lot of new hires are required to do professional development, and I'm not required to, but I do it because there are some really great ideas out there that I don't know about.”
Sources say much of the work goes against conventional wisdom.
“I was so excited to have the summer off and spend so much time with my kids and do all these great things. I'd be holed up in the school building every week doing all these little things and making lists of what I needed to do next,” Thompson said. “I started the summer with a conference, then met with my students once a week to do summer classes and performed at the fair. I really had no time to rest, and then during the last week of school I had all my classes planned for next year.”
“Yes, we may have two months off, but the second month is all about school,” O'Hara said. “It's a mix of working from home, going into the classroom once or twice a week to prepare, and then at the end of the month, you're in the classroom all the time. The first week and first few days of school, you don't have students, you have meetings, you have professional development, you don't have free time. You still have to use your own time after school to continue to prepare on time. It's a lot of work, and it's probably a lot harder than people realize.”
“Many of the parents I talk to seem to know, but I'm sometimes surprised at how little parents know that they're constantly educating themselves,” says Sinta Sass. “Even if you have summer vacation, you don't have summer vacation. You might have a weekend now and then, but you're always looking for the next activity.”
“People say, 'Oh, you have three months off,' but I'm here until 5 o'clock every day grading papers and planning,” said Waffle, who also advises the 10th-grade class, yearbook, newsletter, calendar, golf club and coaches Morris' softball. “I work through the holidays and I plan every day. You'd think I'd be done with it after 20-some years, but I'm always adding, revising, changing things and making sure it's relevant and appealing to the students.”
And sources say it's the students who are fuelling their passion.
“I miss them so much,” Thompson said. “Just knowing they're in my room and they're happy and excited and playing music is great. I can't wait for the school year to start.”
“It's 100% the kids,” says Sinta Sass. “Most kids, even the toughest kids, really like to be loved. You have to interact with them in a way that shows you genuinely care, and that means listening, engaging and being authentic. I'm old and gray-haired, so I can't go back to being in my 20s and do that, but you have to have a sense of humor and be authentic enough to know your kids are safe. Their safety comes first, but I think it's all about listening and being able to genuinely care.”
“Kindergarten is hands down my favorite,” said O'Hara, who has taught a variety of elementary school students. “I love these little kids. It's hectic and hard, especially the first few weeks, but by the end of the year, it's all worth it. They grow so much and change so much. I know I'm not their mother, but I treat them like one and I'm so proud of them. When they go from being scared to coming in happy and saying, 'Good morning!' it makes it all worth it.”
“They're just so genuine and loving and sweet,” she continued. “I'm capturing them at the best time of their lives and it's so moving to think that I got to portray them at this time in their lives.”
