1. What grade level to you teach, how long have you been teaching what is the name of your school?
I teach K-5th grade in Las Vegas, which is the Clark County Public School System. I’ve been teaching for two years and in June 2007 will complete my Master of Education degree with a focus on BrainSMART.
2. Has the content been useful to you in you work as a classroom teacher?
Absolutely. It’s helped me to reach my students in a differentiated way instead of teaching them in the way that I have learned in the past.
Using the HEAR strategy has been helpful. It is a retention/attention strategy where students halt, engage their minds and actively recall information. It gets the kids active in the learning process. I’ve also enjoyed watching kids benefit from peer partners. Peer partners allow students to articulate information they hear from me to a partner and increase their retention of the information.
I also enjoy some of the classroom management techniques, including the centrally important teacher-student relationship, coaching for thinking, and all of the cognitive strategies, I love them all. Practical optimism helps kids to develop the life skill of enduring and looking at situations in a constructive manner, and allowing them to frame failure as another step to learning and achievement is invaluable.
3. What do you like about earning your degree 100% online?
It’s been extremely convenient. I’m a fairly new teacher and a brand new dad of a four-month-old baby. I can give you a list of things I’ve done this year and I could not have undertaken this program unless it was online. I actually learn, I don’t just go through the motions. And very little time is taken away from my family.
4. How does this degree compare with other higher education programs you have studied?
Of all of the other things I’ve been engaged in, this has had instant application and I enjoy that. It is not just getting the master’s to get a pay raise. It is a perk that I am getting tools to improve my trade and improve myself. I feel good about having new skills that improve my effectiveness and competence.
5. Would you recommend this program to other teachers?
Yes, I already have. I have a church friend starting the program in about a month. I think Dr. Donna should hire me to be a mentor in the program. I believe in the precepts that they teach and it has the opportunity to really expand in our district. There is a lot of opportunity to implement the teaching strategies in this program.
6. What would you say to other teachers about the program?
One of many teachers’ main concerns is family and that usually comes first. This program has the potential to help deliver many things that will improve your life and your career: the cost of the program and the time commitment required to complete the program are both reasonable. The material can be immediately implemented and having gained this educational credential, a teacher can usually count on an increase in compensation. I advanced my career while still meeting all my family’s needs.
7. What would you say to an administrator about the program?
Administrators should be focused on meeting teachers’ needs and enhancing morale in the school for the benefit of our students. This program meets teachers’ needs and gives immediate tools to turn our classrooms into stimulating learning labs where children are engaged and energized. It is challenging and motivating and makes you want to teach in a way students can learn. Teacher leaders leave this program with a great desire to contribute to the overall learning culture of one’s school. A lot of the assignments we have are geared toward that. I am creating a program to help teachers increase their students’ peer to peer positive interaction and help students feel comfortable taking chances and going outside norms. BrainSMART helps create teacher-leaders who feel they actually have something substantive to offer to their peers.
8. What would you say to parents?
One of the greatest things any program does is prevent teacher burnout, and a true teacher is always learning. This program provides students with a teacher who is excited and provides differentiated instruction.
9. What have you enjoyed the most about the content?
The teacher leader concept is a great life principle. I believe in the mantra that goes along with that, that there’s spirituality to teaching, a responsibility to give and in giving, we receive. I enjoy that about the program. It has covered a lot of different areas of teaching and has given me something real. The brain research and data about learning, I enjoy the idea they incorporate the whole body. The mind-body-spirit connection tells us that if our nutrition or emotional environment in the classroom, or even our physical education is not in sync, if we don’t get kids moving in our classrooms, they will continue to have a lower level of education in comparison to different cultures and nations.
10. Did you have a friend or colleague who took the program? What did they say about the program?
One friend is just signing up. I’ve had numerous colleagues approach me with questions about the program. I try to promote that new teachers can get in and get going with this, you can get all of this done in 14 months, with so many more skills and within three years the increase in pay will cover the initial investment in tuition. It’s well worth it for teachers.
