Lunchboxes are not the only things new in school halls as September has arrived and the school year approaches.
Every year, a wave of new teachers greet students and prepare their curricula, and perhaps most importantly, prepare, for the very first time, their own special classrooms.
For Lindsay Guilz, who will be teaching 10th- and 11th-grade math at Shaker High School, setting up her own classroom is only one of many exciting aspects of her first year as a teacher in the North Colonie Central School District.
This will be Guilz’s first year teaching following her graduation with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the University at Albany and a master’s degree from Sage College at Albany.
She first started working with the North Colonie Central School District after getting involved with a home-instruction program through the district in which she had been tutoring students who were being instructed at home.
From there, she learned of the district’s reputation and decided she was interested in applying.
It was definitely one of the schools I was interested in working at, and I felt that it was a good fit for me, and it was a good fit for them, she said.
Jay Deirlein, another new teacher to the district, also said the district’s reputation is what drove him to apply to work in the North Colonie Central School District.
`I know that the district has a tradition of excellence so it’s going to be a challenge,` he said.
Before coming to North Colonie, Deirlein was a part-time teacher at Troy High School. Prior to that, he had worked as a long-term substitute at the Burnt Hills Middle School after achieving both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University at Albany.
This year, he will be teaching 9th- and 10th-grade English at Shaker High School.
`I am incredibly excited, and I know the people I’m working with are going to be so helpful,` said Deirlein about his expectations going into the school year.
One thing Deirlein noticed about the set-up of the school was that he would be teaching out of not one, not two, but three separate classrooms, all next to each other in the high school.
Because of this, Deirlein was not going to be `setting up` a classroom because he would be sharing the space with other teachers within the school.
`I’ve heard, at the high school, sharing rooms is more common,` he said.
Deirlein could not pinpoint what he was most anxious about looking into the new school year, but he did say, `In terms of what I’m afraid of, I still have the first day of school jitters. Even people who have been in schools for years still get them the week before, not being able to find their classrooms.`
Guilz said she does not fear anything about the upcoming school year.
`I’m most excited just to get started,` she said.
Guilz is also excited to be teaching students a new geometry curriculum this year. In preparation for the new state-mandated curriculum, Guilz had to attend a seminar over the summer.
Other than that, Guilz said she has `nothing too special planned` as far as setting up her first classroom and teaching her own class for the first time.
The new teachers will greet their new students for the first time this week, and both agreed they are excited to work in the North Colonie Central School District this year, and many more. “