By Tony Ji
New teacher, Scott Barkett, is a big Cleveland sports fan and co-coaches soccer for the Cambridge Rindge and Latin boy’s varsity soccer team and loves to eat great food.
Q: What did you do before you came to Brookline?
A: “I grew up there, went to school in Miami University, graduated in 2012, and moved to Boston in June of 2012 and spent that first school year 2012-2013 and did subbing all around Boston, Cambridge and in the Spring I subbed in Brookline as well.”
Q: What subject did you have in mind before you went into Special Education?
A: “History, but I think Brookline does a particularly good job with explaining dates and facts, the thinking processes, and critical thinking and stuff; so that has always been interesting to me regardless. It happens to be crowded field and it’s crowded in Ohio just like it’s crowded out here. So I figured if it’s going to be competitive, I’d like to go where the game is played.”
Q: So what how would you say Special Education is different from the normal courses?
A: “As far as curriculum goes… I mean there are so many flavors in it, which is one of the biggest strengths of Brookline. There is a program for every student; there is a spot for you and where you are going to get the best education possible. I teach a small group science class, the Applied Science I class, and we are going through the standard Physics I curriculum; we will break it up and scaffold it and make it a little more accessible to try to get our students up to speed on it and we might spend a little longer on specific tings. But really it’s not that different, it’s just the content presented in a more structured way sometimes and we make it little more accommodations to allow every student to access that curriculum.”
Q: So have you started to like Special Education?
A: “I love it. Yea, it’s been really fantastic. In Ohio, the schools that I worked with, both my own high school experience and in college, the classroom and the public schools around, it looked different. That is not to say there aren’t schools that perform at a similar level to Brookline, but coming to Brookline was my first exposure to such a comprehensive program.”
Q: What would you say, even though it’s only been two weeks, is the most enjoyable part of your job?
A: “I think, for me, what I get the most out of is when and this is especially something with the students I’ve worked with last year that I still work with this year, seeing growth. I work a lot with freshmen, so a few of my freshmen from last year that I still have this year. Seeing them grow and develop, even within the course of a year, but especially into the second year, it’s really exciting when you work with a student that talks to you in a certain place, whether it’s emotionally or academically, and you are able to help them reach the next level and that confidence grows too; that personal confidence.”
Q: When you first became a special education teacher, were you surprised in any way?
A: “So I got a feel for a lot of the different programs that were offered and the next year as a paraprofessional and this year moving to this role, I sort of got to see a lot of the different flavors that Brookline offers and what surprised me the most was, again coming from a different state and a different background, was how comprehensive and diverse our program offerings are and it really became apparent to me that every student here can find a home and can find the right academic path to find success and to be really well supported and have great teachers working with them wherever their levels are at.”
Q: It’s usually hard for a substitute to control the class, how did that feel for you?
A: “It’s like the first day of school every single day and you have got to come into a situation and be able to command the situation and also be accessible. I think it fits my style; my style is not a dictatorship, I’m not going to come in and go everyone must be silent, that type of thing, but we are going to get done what we are supposed to get done and I think I was really able to own that balance between motivation, you know, we are going to work today. This is not going to be some free block. The teacher has left us plans, this is what we are going to accomplish, that’s my job.”
Q: What do you think you most look forward to this year?
A: “I mean, what I would say I look forward to is transitioning from being just a new teacher from sort of trying to swim, essentially, to really taking that next step into being an active leader in different, whether it’s clubs or different initiatives that we’ve got, there are so many great things. This is such a transformative time for Brookline; you know, are we getting a new high school, what’s that going to look like? New technology coming in, all kinds of different things going on, and there are so much great work being done by the faculty to prepare and drive those different goals and I’m excited about the opportunity to grow into those types of positions after I’ve gotten to that next level, I guess.”
Tony Ji can be contacted at [email protected].
