Amidst the tests, quizzes, chapter, and overall work that come with a school year already in full swing, change can be difficult for both teachers and students. Math teacher Debbie Larsen’s absence has led her students to accept and cope with the changes they have been given.
“She had an injury, unfortunately,” said Math Department Chair Kevin Greata.
Despite having Larsen’s name inscribed on their schedules, her students have never had her as their teacher. Instead, her place in the classroom has been fulfilled by seven different teachers, which has provided a few bumps for both the teachers and students.
“We’ve become used with one way for about a month and then the next month we have to adopt again to another form of teaching,” said junior Autumn Barraclough.
The school year opened up with Larsen’s capacity being fulfilled by Elizabeth Roop and Joseph Rogers, who split up the week by each teaching separate days. Joseph Malley then took over, before the arrival of Robert Benton and Frank Knickerbocker. Currently, Benton teaches Orange days, while Becky Barnes leads the second period class and Tina Nham has taken over the sixth period class.
“[Ms. Roop was] more into breaking it down, using things that we’ve already learned on a more mathematical level,” said Barraclough. “[Mr. Rogers was] more into showing it in ways of visual cues,” said Barraclough.
For many of the students, Malley’s customs were the most baffling, since he turned more to verbalization than the white board. Despite continuous change, Benton’s arrival was welcomed by the students and the results of his many years teaching have not gone undetected by them.
“You can actually notice that he actually knows the material,” said junior Saisruthi Kannan.
When Benton arrived at WS this past November, he wasn’t walking through WS’s white halls as a foreigner. Instead, he carried with him thirty-three years worth of memories from teaching at WS. In that span of time he has taught an array of math levels and held various capacities within the school, such as Math Department Chair, softball and wrestling coach. When he took on Larsen’s duty in November, he didn’t find having to take over after the start of the school year to be too arduous.
“For the most part since I know everybody, it’s, like I already know how they operate and so it’s not like I’m walking in cold,” said Benton “Also I’m familiar with their subject material.”
There are always some minor complications that are overcome with time. One of these is assuming the role of teaching a class when the students are already a few days in to what they will later be tested on.
“The other thing is probably just learning the kids’ names and becoming familiar with them and their work,” said Benton.
A short time after Benton’s arrival, Knickerbocker took on the blue day classes and Benton began to solely teach the classes on orange days. Despite their both vastly different backgrounds, both brought an equally positive outlook on their job.
Knickerbocker has only begun his teaching career recently; in fact, it only consists of months spent subbing in various schools, including WS. However, he is working to both advance and solidify his budding new career path by meeting the requirements needed to become a teacher.
“I’m ready to do work that I value very highly and I believe education is the most valuable work that I can do,” said Knickerbocker.
Some of the challenges for Knickerbocker were learning the basic tasks, such as grading. However challenges were simple to overcome with the support of his fellow math teachers who were showing him the ropes.
Barns and Nham have now taken over Blue days. Both are WS math teachers and the students can expect them to stay.
After going from one teacher to the next, Larsen’s pre-calculus students can finally take a sigh of relief. It remains unknown whether Larsen will ever join them in the classroom this year; however, the storm of change that overwhelmed them those fall months is now becoming a distant picture.
“I think we have a long term solution,” said Greata.