Dr_Reese

Name? Chauncey D. Reese

Current position? Dean of Instruction

How long have you been in education? 15 years

What’s a little known fact about you? My great-grandfather was a Buffalo Soldier

When does your job feel the hardest? When I have to prioritize teachers’ needs. To that one teacher, their need is of the utmost importance. Sometimes, I feel that teachers forget they share me with 276 other teachers. I have to make teachers feel I am present in that moment with them, although there are other needs, oftentimes, more pressing than theirs.

What helps you get through those hard days? I leave work at work. Disconnecting each day from work allows me the mental and emotional strength to get through those hard days. What’s on my desk or inbox at the end of the workday stays there until the next morning.

What makes your heart sing as a teacher? As most public school teachers know, we often don’t receive immediate feedback from our students on how well we’re doing. Sometimes, years later, you’ll receive that email from a former student, that college graduation announcement, or that wedding invitation. My heart sings when I hear from a student I taught many years ago and they share with me the impact I had on their life or decisions. It’s amazing what little thing we’ve said or done that was memorable for a student years later.

Can you describe a recent day or moment like that? A student I hadn’t seen nor heard from in ten years came to my campus just last week to visit me. He’s accomplished so much in the last decade both personally and professionally. He shared with me what he remembered from my English classes and how the writing strategies I taught him in junior high carried him all the way through college. With degree in hand, he wanted to personally thank me for teaching him. Needless to say, my heart is still singing from that visit.

Who was your favorite teacher and why? Mrs. Rhonda Johnston (Senior English). She was the first teacher who gave me authentic feedback on my writing skills. I never knew I was “good” at writing; it just came naturally for me. She took time to conference with me and challenged me to write for publication, scholarships, and contests. I became an English teacher because of her and dedicated my master’s thesis to her.

Five items you can’t teach without? Competence, care, commitment, reflection, and printed text.

Three books you would recommend to a fellow teacher? If You Don’t Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students: Guide to Success for Administrators and Teachers by Neila A. Connors,  Fires in the Bathroom: Advice for Teachers from High School Students  by Kathleen Cushman and Hear Our Cry: Boys in Crisis by Paul D. Slocumb.

Social Media/On-Line teaching tools: What are 2-3 sites that you use to support your teaching?  www.everythingesl.net and http://www.solution-tree.com/

What is your favorite app you use as a teacher? Google Apps

Best teaching advice you ever got? Remember that other teachers don’t teach the way you teach. Try to learn what others are doing and use what you can and discard the rest. It’s like eating fish, eat the meat and spit out the bones.

Advice you would give to a new teacher or something you learned that you wished had known earlier in your career? Don’t think because you are the new teacher on the campus or team that you don’t have a voice or you have to pay your dues before you can speak up, challenge, or share a perspective. You have earned a right to be here, just as those have who are already here.

I wish I had known it is alright to make an instructional mistake. When a lesson failed, I took it personally for many years instead of as a teachable moment. Life-long learning involves more than graduate school or membership in a professional organization. Life-long learning includes being reflective of your practice, daily.

What do you do to recharge? Pleasure reading

Poem or quote that you love? “If you love something set it free. If it comes back it’s yours. If not, it was never meant to be.”

Now it’s your turn!

Our thanks to Chauncey for his terrific Interview. We hope you’ll be inspired by his responses and send in your own.

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