Education majors often grow tired of hearing, Are you planning on teaching in Ohio? or Good luck finding a job, or the ultimate favorite, I would reconsider going into education. It is very disheartening hearing these negative retorts to one’s life dream. In life, one is going to run into many obstacles. Nothing ever comes easy. Dreams come true, but not free. America needs good teachers who are there for one reason: their students.

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Education majors often grow tired of hearing, Are you planning on teaching in Ohio? or Good luck finding a job, or the ultimate favorite, I would reconsider going into education. It is very disheartening hearing these negative retorts to one’s life dream. In life, one is going to run into many obstacles. Nothing ever comes easy. Dreams come true, but not free. America needs good teachers who are there for one reason: their students.

Nancy Joseph earned her undergrad in Early Childhood Education from The University of Akron in 2003. She later returned to the University in 2009 to earn her masters. Joseph is currently teaching at Findley Elementary School, located just a few miles away from the University.

Joseph has been teaching at Findley for just two years and was this year named Teacher of the Year. She is also a candidate for the Akron City Schools District Teacher of the Year Award. Joseph is among four candidates for the award. The winner will be announced later this year.

She put together a nice program for her students this year. A lot of her students were not on the higher end of our testing, but she really brought them along through her techniques. That made her stand out, not only here, but in the district Teacher of the Year selection, said Charles D. Jones, principal at Findley Elementary.

We are always proud of the School Teacher of the Year because we have so many teachers who do a wonderful job. She has taken it a step beyond; I have been an administrator for 10 years and she is the first teacher I have had to make it to finals for the district Teacher of the Year. And she has only been teaching a couple of years and she has done a wonderful job, Jones added.

To get an understanding of what a typical day in Joseph’s classroom, let’s first learn a bit about her students. Out of her 19 students, 10 are ESL (English as a Second Language) and nine are English speaking, according to Joseph. ESL students have an interpreter come to class for one hour a day to work with them. There are also ESL teachers who come and work with the students on the fundamental aspects of the English language. Findley has a high population of ESL students. Classes typically have 25 percent ESL students due to the school’s location close to the National Institute.

It’s a challenge for most of them. This is their second year of school, so they know a little bit of what is going on and how the typical school day goes. There are a lot of things that you have to explain to them. That’s why it is really important for me to provide experiences for them, because they don’t have them, said Joseph.

She provided an example. This week in school, only three of her students knew what jelly is. Joseph is going to make it a point to bring in jelly to her class so they can see what it is.

I think it is important that you show them something real and they can touch it, feel it, squeeze it and smell it. And use their senses. It helps a lot if they can actually manipulate it, said Joseph.

Another interesting dynamic of Joseph’s classroom is the relationship between the English speaking students and the ESL students.

I think it is really good for them. The diversity in our class is so important for them; it creates them to be more empathetic, caring and they really like to help each other.

Joseph has reached the point in her classroom where she has to remind her students that they can help each other with their work but don’t do the work for their classmates and find ways to model that.

It’s also really good for the [ESL] students to hear the English language being spoken by kids, said Joseph. The students may be lacking experiences with diversity in the community, but they are gaining a lot of experience in the classroom, Joseph adds.

Joseph reflects on her position as a first grade teacher: I have to stop and think about their prior knowledge. It is really important to think about what they know and build upon that knowledge. Sometimes we are so quick to jump right into the lesson that we don’t stop to see what they know. And that is really important to do, especially in a diverse classroom.

Joseph can serve as an inspiration to aspiring teachers and perhaps current educators. She faces the same challenges and worries that all educators face. She gives the following advice: No matter what, teachers will be under scrutiny. At times like these, we just have to be more creative in how we deal with problems that arise. Nothing is going to be perfect, and I love what I do, said Joseph.

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