Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!
Five fun facts about the teachers of New America College.
- We are experienced.
Teachers at New America College have over 156 years of combined teaching experience. Wow! That’s a lot of teaching.
How do NAC students benefit from this?
Our teachers share their experience with one other twice a month during professional development meetings. Each teacher has an opportunity to share valuable insight into classroom practices and techniques. Want to learn how to use social media news outlets in the classroom? Ask our level 5 teacher April Long.
- We aren’t afraid of evaluations.
We love what we do, and we are proud of our work. When our students write evaluations at the end of the month, we look forward to reading their comments and take suggestions for improvement seriously. Our last school evaluation went so well ACCET gave us the longest accreditation possible — 5 years. Way to go NAC!
- We have traveled the world.
South Korea, Mexico, China, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Uganda, Thailand, Vietnam, Senegal, Nepal, and Cambodia. These are some of the places our teachers have had the opportunity to teach. Living in a new country can be challenging, and we know that.
Based on our understanding and experiences of what it is like to live in another country, we try to make our classrooms as welcoming as possible. Some of our students consider their classroom a home away from home. To enhance the family feel, join us for international food at one of our international potlucks.
- We bring a variety of skills to the classroom.
Even though we’re in front of the class all day, reviewing grammar and facilitating activities, we like to have fun. All of the teachers bring their own individual traits and experiences to their classrooms.
For example, John Power, a gifted photographer with a Master’s in intercultural service, leadership and management, brings both his passion for art and social justice into his American Culture and Conversation class. In his free time you can find him taking photos. Check out his work at https://jonpower.zenfolio.com/.
- We love our jobs.
According to Factretriever, a University of Pennsylvania study reported 33 percent of teachers leave their job within the first three years and 46 percent leave within five. Those of us that stay in the teaching profession love what we do.
With a Master’s degree in Education from the University of Maryland and eleven years of teaching experience, Tim Kobus draws from an extensive amount of teacher training and a passion to create when he designs lesson plans for his class.
Recently he taught his students how to hook their audience at the beginning of a presentation. “…when the students did their presentation, their hooks were over-the-top hilarious, like wildly entertaining, and it was so cool to see themtrying it out and applying this stuff.”
Mary Kay graduated from Duke University with a degree in Latin American Studies and has two adult children. Her students consider her more than a teacher, some call her mom.
“I think something unique I offer to the class is that I really care about them,” Kay said. “To me it’s not just a job, it’s about investing in these students…When they go up to the next level, I am really proud of them.”
Surveys done in the United States found that teaching is second only to a career in the military as a job that contributes most to society’s well-being.[1]
If you want to make a lot of money go into business or technology. If you want to change the world, teach.