Prompt: What does your interview tell us about being an impactful teacher?
For my first interview, I reached out to my high school Psychology teacher and had the opportunity to discuss her journey in the teaching profession. To start off, Mrs. Staloch is one of my favorite teachers I’ve ever had. I was lucky to have her my Junior and Senior year of high school in a subject that I really enjoyed. Not only was she an engaging and informed educator, but she also became a mentor and role model to me. She cares deeply about creating impactful relationships and I don’t think I would have gotten through my last two years of high school without her support and guidance.
Like I mentioned before, I think the reason she was such an impactful teacher for me was because of how much she cared about her students. She checked in on me every day and she spent time during class getting to know me and my classmates. Especially in my AP Psychology class senior year, the connections she made with each of us made us all feel safe and important. I struggled a lot with perfectionism and mental health that year and she was always so uplifting and understanding. She wants what’s best for her students and that plays into an aspect of respect. Some ways she demonstrates being respectful are by being kind, dressing professionally every day, getting grades in quickly, providing a clean and decorated classroom, being in a good mood, and being consistent. She states that “you can’t just say you respect your students; you have to show it through your actions.” This is what made the classroom community. I could count on her to show up for us and that consistency is what created success.
Breaking off from that point, Mrs. Staloch also talked about how important it is to be reflective in the career. Being able to step back and take accountability for those bad days and understand what you did wrong is going to help you become more impactful. Being willing to want to grow as a person will only make you a stronger teacher and learning from mistakes is crucial in a career that can be so unpredictable. Celebrating the successes and learning from the failures is necessary in all aspects of the teaching profession.
There are so many reasons why my teacher was impactful on my life, and I’m so glad that I got to learn a couple great tips and share them here.
