By Matt DeAngelo
New chemistry teacher Alison Crocker worked for two years at Brockton High School for two years. Prior to that she worked in a lab and as an SAT tutor for a few years each.
Q: What are your feelings about being a teacher here at BHS? What do you like about it and what do you find challenging?
A: BHS is very supportive of teachers. There’s a lot of training, there’s very manageable class sizes, there’s manageable preps in terms of every teacher not having a ton of different classes to teach. There’s also good technology- every teacher gets their own computer. The people I work with are wonderful and the mentor program is helpful. All of those things are really supportive structures that bring teachers to their top level real quick.
Q: You teach chemistry here as we know. Of all subjects why do you teach chemistry? What do you believe separates it from other subjects?
A: Well, I’m certified for both biology and chemistry. I definitely know a lot more biology in depth. But I love chemistry, I love teaching kids about labs and hands-on materials that you can work with, as well as I enjoy the math addition to chemistry that biology does not have. So, students can bring other skills into chemistry. Biology is more memorization whereas chemistry has rules that you can follow just like math.
Q: Day-in and day-out what do you expect from your students?
A: I expect them to follow a series of procedures that I set up in class. I expect them to bring an open mind to each class period. So, I want them to question things that I’m telling them and to not just absorb and write it down. I really enjoy when we can have a back-and-forth class. I’m not the kind of teacher who just likes to talk and lecture and expects you to know it all. That being said I do expect a certain amount of effort in class.
Q: Last but not least, I know many people including myself do better in school when we have confidence ourselves to do well. How important do you feel self-confidence is to the success of your students and why do you feel this way?
A: That’s a good question. Self-confidence is not necessarily something that every student has and something I’m sure most students want to work towards. But if a student is shy in class, they’re not gonna fail based on that. I do a lot with getting up in front of the class and presentations. If they’re worried about getting up in front of the class they can stand up at their seat and do the presentation or they can stand up there with a partner and do a presentation. There’s steps to building self-confidence so students feel supported in a class. But a student without self-confidence is not gonna do poorly in class although I might call on them to speak and that sort of thing.
Matt DeAngelo can be contacted at [email protected]
