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At this time, we'd like to introduce you to Anne Whitford who is one of two Teachers of the Year
from the San Juan Unified School District. Thanks for joining us.
You're welcome. No problem. Well, tell us a little about yourself. Tell us where you teach,
and what subjects you teach. Alright, I teach at Bella Vista High School
in Fair Oaks and
that's with the San Juan Unified School District. I teach
9th grade honors biology and juniors and seniors in
AP biology. So, mostly honors classes.
So tell us about the program. Exactly what you get into in the classroom there.
Well, biology these days is very cellular.
A lot of times, in the past, you know, when I went to school,
there was a lot of dissection, there were a lot of animals and that kind of thing, and so
in today's world of biology, it's all gone down to the cellular level
and so we teach a lot about how
how the cell works, how you make proteins
how the genes work, we get into DNA, genetic engineering,
and then, maybe a little
bit of ecology about the world around us. So that's kind of our focus.
Okay, so these are honors students that you're teaching,
obviously highly motivated kids, but do you still find that sometimes
as a teacher you still have to do a lot of motivating?
Oh yeah. It's a huge energy output on my part, but
you know, it's fun. That's kind of the goal is
to make them love science. It's my -- last year
I had a girl that said to me, you know,
Ms. Whitford I never liked science before, but now it's my favorite subject. And so
that's kind of the goal is for them to enjoy science.
With regard to each concept we do, we do hand-on activities
we, if we're talking about a nerve, I'll have the whole
group stand up, everybody in the classroom stand up, we
move a tennis ball down, which would be
the electrical current, and then I show them if you put milan on a nerve
that the electrical current will go much faster
and we time that. And so every single concept that we learn
we actually do. And so it becomes a real fun environment for the students and they feel like they
are learning something. And so that's kind of how I deal with that.
The hands-on in the classroom. And what about for those harder to motivate kids
you have to take an extra step, I would imagine? Oh yeah, that becomes
the individual prodding, or the individual help, or the
individual caring, I guess, is really more
how I might work with them. The more you care about a student,
the more they get drawn into the classroom.
And you have some kids that really have some issues, and you pull them aside,
you talk to them on an individual basis. And usually, many
times they'll come around, and if you work with them real closely
then they do come around.
So teaching's a lot about relationships. Pretty much. It's a connection.
It's a connection first of all, a teacher has to connect with themselves, so they can
understand their weeknesses and strengths, so that they can have the knowledge
the creativity, the motivation, enthusiasm
to go and get the students going.
And it's a connection with the students so you can have a happy environment in the classroom.
The more joy
there is in there, the more open the minds are to learn, and so
and then the connection between teachers and parents.
At first, you open up and work with the students and you kind of bring the
parents kinda come in too, so it's a connection between all of them, which kind of
makes for a real positive learning environment. And if you have
a solid relationship with the parent, that just reinforces your relationship in the classroom
with the student? Oh yeah, it's great. You know, you get e-mails from parents
and they -- the students really bring them in. It's
wonderful, you know they say that we're on vacation, that you know and my student
saw this person and they they started telling me
all the genetic -- they started doing Punnett Squares on the napkins at the pizza parlor
this person is that way, and how their parents probably were, and
it's just really great getting e-mails from parents. I get little stories like that.
That brings the parents in and makes them excited about it, too.
And that's important, to bring a whole family together.
To support the student in their endeavors.
In their success. Because in today's world it's so competetive out there that
you need that all-around support for the students kind of
succeed. Now, how long have you been teaching?
I've been teaching 20 years. Through the Elk Grove District and then San Juan District.
So, in that length of time, how have you seen things change?
Whether it's what you have to do, or maybe how the students
are and what their needs are?
You have, probably two changes, in that students are so
-- they have so many outside
activities that, you really have to
bring them into your own little environment and make
them see that this is important. But what I do to do that is to
-- is I teach the kids as a individual that biology is a
means of teaching them to be a productive person
in society, with regard to work ethic, setting goals
and just that they
can be successful, learning how to be successful as a person, and so because
this world is a pretty complex thing, I think than even 20 years ago
and the other issue is
just, the curriculum has changed quite a with regard to
being more cellular, so you just have to change your curriculum along the way on a regular basis. But the
kids, you know, they're so spread out
and some of them have a hard time getting motivated because of all their different things.
And so, you really have to bring it in with a fun curriculum and teach
working with them as an individual that's going into society
you know, not just biology. Well, how is it that you became a teacher? What brought you to the profession?
That's a funny story.
I went to Stanford University and
my last semester there, I worked in a
nursery school. It was part of my major, human biology,
and I enjoyed it so much I came out of there
every day, happy, smiling.
Feeling like I could help these little kids
and help others. With them, it was easy, you know.
It was opening a juice box without it squirting open and working in the sandbox and that kind of
thing. It was pretty easy. But, that was my first thought.
Actually, that was my senior year in college and
at that point, I decided that this may very well be an
avenue for me to be, to be a teacher.
And, at that point, I wasn't quite ready to go into teaching, I felt kinda young, and so I
went into the business world for a little bit, but I didn't really enjoy it. I kind of always kinda fell back to the
thoughts that I had when I was at the nursery school and how much fun it was.
So I ended up, about three years later, I went back to get
my teaching credential.
Okay, so that nursery school world is different than AP senior biology.
I know, well, I felt that after going to Stanford and getting a
degree in biology, that I should probably use it.
Your family was probably happy.
Yeah, and so I decided I'd better teach biology rather than nursery school.
Although nursery school is an important start for the whole thing. But I just had that
knowledge base, and so it worked well. And I was also a
international swimmer. I swam all through the world and
in swimming and so I also
enjoyed that. I coached swimming. Coached -- I started
a swim time before I got into teaching and when I got into
teaching, I could also coach swimming. So I've coached swimming also
at the high school setting, so that's been an avenue that I really enjoy.
Well, obviously you enjoy it. What would you say to anybody out there
who's considering being a teacher that might like this as a profession.
What would you say to kind of convince them to consider it, seriously?
Well, I think, teaching is an amazing place in that you do
have a lot of -- the students really bring me a lot of strength and really bring me
a lot of happiness, and really bring me a lot of smiles. I love to see them improve
and do better. Even when you're
down, or you're having a hard time in your life for some reason,
you go in this classroom and so many of them are, they're happy and I
just, I get strength and I get energy from these guys.
And, so, it is a place that, if you're willing to
give and take, and you're willing to work with them, they're willing to give back.
And, so, it's a great environment
and you're surrounded by all your other colleagues, also, who are in the same position
of helping others. So you're all there. So, if that's your drive
to work with others, then it's a great place to do it.
Okay, well thank you very much for speaking with us. Anne Whitford, one of two Teachers of the Year
for the San Juan Unified School District. Thank you.