Every teacher has a different experience during their teaching career. Current Garden Plain Elementary kindergarten teachers, Mr. Sam Sheahon and Mrs. Joan Pauly shared their similarities despite nearly two decades difference in their years of experience. While one has more experience at GP than the other, their views about the school and teaching as a career were similar. Mrs. Pauly has been at GP for twenty-five years, meanwhile Mr. Sheahon has been at GP for six years. Some things that have gone well for Mrs. Pauly are the people she works with making the day fun and kids being well brought up in good families. Mr. Sheahon reiterated that point. Some challenges Pauly has faced is getting used to different changes and more being added to her plate. Meanwhile, Sheahon said that it is tough to teach the kids they just can’t do whatever they want.
In the world we live in things are always changing, but both teachers do have some classroom traditions. Pauly does Christmas crafts and celebrates different letters of the alphabet with objects. For example, the letter a with an apple. Sheahon has a very special jar called the name jar. If the class is doing something good, then he draws one of the names out of the jar, in which one lucky person would get a prize. Each student gets their name placed in the jar by being good.
As the years go by, Mrs. Pauly has seen teachers come and go and she deals with those situations by, “Being helpful to the new teacher, offering what you have, and wishing the retiring teacher well.” As for Mr. Sheahon, a new teacher six years ago, said the hardest part of coming to a new school is, “Everyone being so close and knowing each other already.”
Everyone has their own take on what advice to give teachers. Being a new teacher can be a tricky one, if you haven’t been given tips and tricks. Pauly’s advice was to stay positive, get a good night’s sleep, and have lots of chocolate and Diet Coke on hand. Sheahon’s advice was to not take it too seriously and have fun with the job.
As for their favorite part about working with each other, Pauly said, “He’s fun, young, and a team player.” Sheahon added, “She makes his job easier because she is always offering ideas, input, and help.”
