Oceanside students learn the joys of teaching

Last week, Oceanside High School and Middle School had special visits from educators who hosted discussions about the nationwide teacher shortage to encourage the next generation of students to get involved in the profession. One talk, on Oct. 26, was part of the New York State Teachers Association’s Take a Look at Teaching initiative, and the other, the following day, focused on establishing a partnership between the schools and Long Island University.

Take a Look at Teaching is funded by the National Education Association. Oceanside High teacher Gavin Kalner wrote a grant proposal, with assistance from Professional Development Center Coordinator Betsy Weinman, which resulted in a $10,000 grant to teach interested Ocean-side students about teaching.

Laura Seinfeld, dean of LIU’s College of Education, Information and Technology, joined in on the TALAT panel discussion and, with Assistant Dean Cary Epstein, a former K-12 educator, in Oct. 14 session, on making a connection between district schools and the university with a new high school chapter of TALAT, which Helen Dixon will advise.

Dixon teaches the College Elementary Education elective at the high school, in which students can earn college credits at LIU while learning about teaching through direct classroom experience. They observe classroom instruction and prepare and conduct practice lessons.

“Teaching is one of the most important professions, in my eyes,” Dixon said. “It is wonderful to witness my students become more confident in their abilities, and very rewarding to be teaching a class about the profession I hold so dear to my heart.”

Seinfeld said she got involved when “one of our current students told us about the great work that’s happening in Oceanside, with students being exposed to the teaching profession through high school coursework, and that meeting with one of our current students gave me the impetus to reach out to the teachers at Oceanside High School about the programming there to cement a more formal partnership between Long Island University and the Oceanside schools.”

The LIU visitors emphasized the rewards and benefits of teaching, and gave an overview of the variety of teaching certifications. They advised students to pursue multiple certifications, to make them more marketable, and recommended that students research colleges offering the best pathway for doing that. They noted that New York state is facing a significant teacher shortage as student enrollment increases, while many teachers retire.

Monitoring enrollment in education courses, Seinfeld said, they have seen numbers go up after hosting these programs. “That gives us great hope,” she said, “and we’re trying to get the word out to high schools everywhere that we need our best and brightest and most compassionate young people to consider coming into the teaching career.”

The TALAT kickoff event featured current New York State Teacher of the Year Billy Green as the special guest and speaker. Jennifer Wolfe, the 2021-22 Teacher of the Year, helped lead the event along with Kathy Smith, the middle school TALAT adviser and Dixon. Oceanside educators who are district alumni also spoke to students in small groups about their career journeys.

Green, a high school chemistry instructor in New York City, spoke to the students about becoming a teacher and the most important quality teachers need, which he said was love. He invited students to speak about the first lessons they remember learning, and several mentioned former kindergarten teacher Elaine Eckers, who retired last year. Green also shared stories about the teachers in his life, beginning with his mother and including middle, high school and college educators who had served as mentors to him.

“The middle school students spoke about Billy the entire way back to the middle school,” Smith said. “They found his story so inspirational. It was wonderful to bring the older and younger members together to discuss, in my opinion, the best profession in the world.”

Eighth-grader Katie Nolan said that Green’s presentation was indeed inspiring. “He talked about how he came from a not-so-good neighborhood and was mistreated by others around him, but now is a very successful teacher,” Katie wrote in an email. “All Mr. Green was ever told was that he had to be a doctor or a lawyer in order to be successful, but he proved everyone wrong. He followed his dream, and is now the number one teacher in New York for 2023. Just as his teachers inspired him, he’s inspiring so many kids today.”

Seventh-grader Charli Smalls emailed, “To be honest, Billy Green is now one of my idols. It was so heartwarming to see a person of color and difference who succeeded in the face of difficult circumstances.”

Seinfeld emphasized the importance of, and the need for, teachers, saying, “The bottom line is, we tell our students why teaching is the greatest profession there is, and one of the reasons for that is it is in fact the profession that creates all other professions.”

She also noted how important teaching is to the functioning of the country. “Public education is the bedrock of a democracy,” she said, “and being sure that we have a teaching force that values diversity and equity, tolerance and kindness, and that we have teachers who are prepared, and that we have teachers who represent the students in front of us, is one of the reasons we’re working so hard at LIU.”

Smith said she was excited to have her middle school TALAT Club members begin shadowing and assisting nine teachers at School No. 9E who have opened their doors to small groups of students. Students from the high school and middle school chapters of the TALAT club will also visit LIU to get a glimpse of college-level courses and learn more about teacher preparation and certification.