PROFILE

Published Monday, March 15, 2004
Learning to Teach
An HGSE Student Profile
By Julia Laughlin
APPIAN STAFF WRITER

Arriving at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) seven days after graduating from Union College in New York, Nina Mandel is undergoing a quick transformation: from student to teacher.

The 22-year-old Mandel, a Teaching and Curriculum (TAC) student concentrating in teaching secondary math, frequently wakes up at 6:30 am, not to arrive home before 7:30 pm. Exhausted from a day of teaching high schoolers and going to class at HGSE, all she wants is to go to sleep; but the day isn’t over—there are lessons to plan and work to toil over late into the night.

Still, a busy schedule isn’t the most difficult challenge that Mandel faces as she learns to teach: she has had to “learn that there is a very fine line between being a teacher and a friend,” particularly for someone so close in age to her students. As the “grown-up” in the classroom, she’s realized she can’t laugh at her pupils’ jokes, for instance. “You’ve gotta hold down the fort,” she explains. Consequently, she quickly learned the importance of making her role clear in the classroom so that there is no confusion as to whether she is a fellow student or a teacher.

To commit oneself to the TAC program’s rigorous training, one has to be passionate about teaching and learning. Mandel is no exception. Like so many teachers, Nina was fortunate to have had inspirational teachers and learning experiences throughout her life that contributed to her love of school.

For example, in addition to Mandel’s zeal for math, she also enjoys working with adolescents: she nostalgically recounts her influential experiences as a camp counselor at Buckley Day Camp on Long Island for four years, where she “looked forward to working everyday.”

Nina also credits her athletic experiences as contributing to her drive to become a teacher. She plays tennis and basketball, but she is most devoted to lacrosse. Her passion for lacrosse, and for being on a team, led her to play for Union College throughout her four years there. Her satisfying experiences with team sports “naturally led [her] to coaching” (which she did during college as well).

What is HGSE doing to attract and support future teachers like Nina? In Nina’s opinion, it is offering support. During a prospective student visit to HGSE, Mandel thought that the TAC students she met were a “very close-knit” group. She also got the impression that HGSE offered “tons” of professional support—from directors, professors, and myriad advisors (academic advisors, mentor teachers, and site coordinators).

The perception proved to be reality for Mandel, and she says she has found that the TAC cohort is truly supportive. For example, the TAC cohort recently threw a Superbowl party, and TAC students often go to Chili’s restaurant together after their Methods class. Nina and the six other student teachers at Brookline High School often have dinner together after the long school day ends.

Another unique aspect of HGSE’s TAC program is its innovative summer program in which the TAC students teach for six weeks at the Cambridge Harvard Summer Academy. In addition to teaching at the Summer Academy, each TAC student enrolls in five modules at HGSE. Mandel enjoyed the connections she made between the theories taught in the modules and the real-life classroom environment. It was demanding, Nina admits, but “a great, fun introduction to teaching.”

Now that Mandel is fully enmeshed with the world of teaching, she seems comfortable with the role. But she confesses that her confidence was not always so stable—“I have to admit; it was strange at first. I have been a student my entire life!” Before taking on her current role as a classroom facilitator (as a student-teacher), she hadn’t realized “how many decisions teachers make every second of the day.”

Another challenge Mandel has confronted-- and conquered-- is gauging the class time allotted for activities. She bounded into her first day of student teaching with enormous energy; she had a ‘perfect’ lesson planned, complete with real world examples and engaging activities. However, she only got through a quarter of this carefully crafted lesson when the bell rang and class ended. Since then, Nina has “come to know [her] students…and [her] timing has improved dramatically.”

As she transforms from student to teacher, Mandel has also learned how to “steal” different teaching strategies that she admires as a student-teacher. For instance, Nina is inspired by her mentor teacher’s ability to help students take ownership of their learning using inquiry; in other words, she teaches using questions, guiding students so that they discover the answers for themselves.

Recently hired by a school in New York, Mandel is excited to take charge in her own high school math classroom next year. She looks forward to creating her own rules and setting up the classroom with things that inspire her (no doubt, with plenty of math and lacrosse posters).

Mandel credits her favorite high school teacher, Mrs. Weickel, as possessing the ability to make math class enjoyable. More than any specific “teaching style,” however, she attributes Mrs. Wieckel’s lasting impression to the teacher’s warm personality and the connection that they developed.

Thus, perhaps it is not always the actual lessons we learn, as much as those who deliver the lessons, that provides us with the fuel to endure our most challenging transformations.

Julia Laughlin, a member of the Appian Board of Editors, is a student in the Specialized Program.