Susan Northington, 3rd Grade Teacher, Jackson-Via Elementary School
What has your classroom experience taught you that studying education could not have prepared you for?
Education cannot prepare you for what each student brings with them each day to school–the good and the bad. Knowing how to adjust your daily plan to these situations is what classroom experience teaches you.
What teaching adjustments do you plan to make moving forward?
I will continue to build my relationships with my students and their parents. Our technology tools allow more instantaneous feedback than in the past and this helps with those relationships.
In your eyes, what is the biggest challenge facing education currently?
I believe that keeping the students focused on using education as a tool to better themselves is, and has been, a big challenge. Engaging the student on a daily basis can be taxing, but simply must be done to enable the student’s long-term success.
For the next few weeks, to gain insight on what important lessons our young teachers learn early in their careers, Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Meet Your Educator profiles will feature first- and second-year teachers.
