This is Mrs. Stroozas and I will be interviewing her.
1) Why did you decide to become a teacher?
I decided I wanted be a teacher when I was probably like on fifth or six grade, I loved my teacher her name was Ms. Earl and she was just an awesome teacher. I loved her and I loved how she taught and I loved how she loved the students and my favorite subject was math. So I always wanted to be a math teacher. And it happened! Which is pretty cool!
Bruce: That is actually a really good story. I’m pretty much inspired by most of the math teachers I had. For kindergarten, first grade and second grade I had something I would called the three Ws. All of the teachers had their last name starting with W. It was Mrs Weber, Mrs. Ward and Mrs. Wells.
Mrs. Stroozas: That is pretty cool. That is pretty strange.
2) How long have you been teaching? I tried to ask myself that question too. It’s been at least 25 years. I graduated from college in 1993. So I taught before I had my kids and then I took of for about six years and then I kept teaching after that. But in between I still taught like at church and stuff like that so I said for over 25 years.
Bruce: That is a lot of teaching! Mrs. Stroozas: It is! Time goes so fast Bruce: You must be learning yourself from doing all that teaching.
3) Are there any goals you set at the beginning of your teaching journey? Mrs. Stroozas: It is a good question. I’m wondering what do you really mean by that? Bruce: when you start a new year. Some people put like new year’s resolutions, goals they want to get done. Well.. pretty much was there anything on your teaching topic of your bucket list that you wanted to accomplish been a teacher?
Mrs. Stroozas: I don’t know if early on if I really had goals like that because I was younger. But I think now it is to definitely get to know my students really well. And just to ensure that like that love of learning and also teach my students tips and tricks for math. To make sure that everybody can do math. I think that is pretty rewarding for me is trying to be able to change some people’s minds if they don’t like math try to help them. Tell them they can do it.
4) Has your academic career change your personality? I was thinking about that and I don’t know if it is my academic career that has change my personality but I feel like I become a better teacher since I become a Mom and had my own children. I feel like I’m more understanding with my students in different situations. So I would say like been a Mom is actually change the teacher that I am.
5) How did you end up teaching in K12? That is a pretty cool thing that happened too. So I think I told you so I taught six years and then I took off for six years when my kids were little. I still wanted to be a teacher and have some income but also I knew that it was going to be really hard to be able to leave the house and still be a mama and all that stuff. So one summer at church camp somebody was telling me about this awesome job about been a teacher but working from home. And they got me hooked up with some connections and I’ve been with K12 now for over 16 years Bruce.
6) Are you satisfied with teaching? Yes I’m! I’m really satisfied with working with K12. I enjoy been at home for a lot of good different reasons because it is so much nicer that you don’t have to get up and get ready and drive somewhere. You don’t have to get up super early, I can be at home with my dog during the day, I can do laundry, I can just eat whenever I want. All those things? Like you too, right Bruce? Like you are at home. Definitely, very convenient and nice.
Bruce: Yes!, My second grade teacher one of the three Ws had to drive from Cortland. It Mrs. Stroozas: We can set out our own class times, which is pretty nice.
7) What are some characteristics of a teacher that in your opinion, would be the perfect teacher of all time? Like the star teacher. First of all, I think that they need to be able to relate to their students and love their students. Just kind of see how the students are at and try to teach at third level, try to challenge them, friendly, of course, they need to be on time with class and all that kind of stuff and they also need to make the class fun too for the students. Something else new that I started this year was with that start math student I recognize math students that are doing a pretty good job in class. They get an email from me every week. That is very fun.. they are recognize in class too. Chat about New Row and other software they use at K12.
8) What do you think is the greatest challenge you have ever faced in this teaching career? I don’t know if it is the greatest challenge but I find it frustrating when… specially when online school like you can actually make a child do the work or login an do the work. Is that make sense? I feel like when they are in your class room work in order you have more influence over them because they are seating right there and you can say you need to do your work. So like online is a little bit harder to make sure the students do their work. That is a challenge that I have. Is just like try to keep them on track and keep them motivated and stuff like that. There is a lot of situations we don’t even know what their problem is? Why they are not working, maybe they don’t get support at home or something.
9) What is one type of trait you try to encourage in your students? I think that one main thing is being a hard worker. If they can put in the work they are going to do really well in my class, and in life. Specially with math is not just to learn the material so that you can pass the test but make sure you learn the material so that you do well in the next grade and all the way through your life. And Honesty is another big thing, is ok to make mistakes and we can all learn from mistakes.
Bruce: One trait that I would try to encourage in students just in the top of my head is to ask for help that is always good.
Mrs. Stroozas: that is good too. That is a good feed back. We always need help at certain times.
10) What do you think about teaching in real life, versus teaching online? It is different for sure. There are pros and cons but now that I’ve been doing this for 16 years and I really do like the flexibility of been at home. I think, the last couple of years I feel like it has change more with maybe the video capabilities where we can see each other where is more real. Even last year we didn’t use the cameras that much. I feel like is better when we use the cameras and we can see each other. As far as just been in real life, I feel like in real life there is much drama, discipline that you have to deal with, stuff like that. I just don’t miss any of that. I do miss see my students in person. We can do many more things, like we can have lunch together or just visit. That is the part that I miss. Seen the students face to face. I think as you get into middle school don’t use the camera because they don’t feel comfortable. Any other challenge, if you don’t see the student you don’t know if he is really there…? You don’t know if they are paying attention.
11) Say you have a trouble student, What would you do to get through to them? First of all, one thing I noticed is when the students are not doing their work, they are not log in and getting progress. That to me is something is going on. Is there a family situation or is the work too hard. So I just try to talk to them, reach out to them and see what the problem is and just show them a lot of empathy and support and tell them I’m here to support them. It is not too late, in fact, I have a student like that this week where she should be at 50% and she is 12% in her classes. I told her not to give up like, it is not too late, you know. Just letting the student know that you are there for them, you care about them and that there is not a loss cause and that they can get the work done.
12) How do you use your teaching environment to have positive effects on your students? I think it is really important to start the class by saying hi to everybody, have them share. I think it is really important to connect with your students but not as well as teachers subjects so I think that is really important to show them that you are a real person, that you care about them. This year I’ve been trying to let my students have more input. So we do have math fundays, they get to share their ideas on what they think could be fun, or how they can connect with other students so just kind of giving them ownership of the classroom. It is been more of my goal this year and it is been working really well. Last year we did students moderator.
Bruce: Yes I remembered doing that. I like it a lot. I was student moderator and went around and tried to help the student