Department heads not only work with their students but also help out all the teachers in their department. They say it doesn’t make their job harder, it is just a different level of stress. Even with this stress they would never give it up.
Kelly Britton has been a teacher for over 20 years, and she loves it. She became the English department chair because she wants to be a resource for any teacher that needs help. “My biggest reason for wanting to be department chair is to help with curriculum, what books we read and different strategies to help in the classroom, but also to be there to help teachers and be a resource for the younger teachers,” she said. Not only that, but she opens up her class to all the English teachers so they can go over their curriculum, books they need, or even just to help them with an issue they are having. But even with all of this she still says that her job isn’t harder. “It just puts a different perspective but it does help get into other people’s classrooms, so that part I really like. I take pictures and videos and share those with other teachers,” Britton said.
Elizabeth Atkinson is the math department chair. She became the department head because she wanted to do things differently than they were before. She enjoys teaching both adults and kids. “A the when the math department leader was retiring .Another friend and I in the math department decided that we would like to take over and do things differently, and we can divide the department up, and try to run the department and help teachers. We both like teaching adults and kids, so we wanted to work with other people, “she said. She arrives early some mornings to set up for the meetings she hosts with all the math teachers to see if they need any assistance. She even comes in on the weekends to make sure everything is ok for her own students and the teachers that she helps. “I don’t know about harder, it’s just different, a different level of stress and a different level of what you’re doing,” Atkinson said.
Kelly Shoger became a department chair to coach teachers to do really well in the classroom and improve their department. She chooses to arrive at school earlier. “I don’t have to spend any more time here but I choose to to ensure I get all my duties done,” she said. She believes that when she became a department head it didn’t make her job harder but different. “I’m sad that I don’t have as many student classes and don’t get to teach as many students but I’m happy that I can help teachers improve their teaching,” Shoger said. Shoger is very happy with her job as a teacher and her job as a department head, and has said that if given the opportunity she wouldn’t give up being leader of the department.
Trish Alpers became a department chair when the old department head retired ¨I saw it as an opportunity for me to help my peers and continue to improve my leadership skills,” she said. She tries to always be available to people whenever they need help so she goes to events and even takes calls when she is at home. She doesn’t think her job is harder, just different. “I like being able to help others and being able to be a part of the solutions to problems that arise.” She loves her job and wouldn’t give it up even if it was offered.
Matthew Deinlein is the Exceptional Learners department head. He was a teacher for eight years before he became a department head. In these eight years he started a swimming program and even started a partnership with Camptown. Even with all this good he had done he felt like he could do more. “I felt like I was at this point where I did everything I can from inside my classroom and I wanted the opportunity to do more,” he said. After he got the position he has been able to shape the program to make a more meaningful impact on the students involved. Deinlein is also the unified track team coach along with Tonya Fisher as well as one of the leaders of the Best Buddies program where he partners up the kids, and they do activities and go on field trips.
Rob Church has been the PE department head for a long time now and enjoys the organization and leading his department to try and get the most out of their students. He said being a department head is “more challenging but at the same time gratifying to see the growth of our students and our department, that’s kind of exciting.” When asked if he would quit if given the opportunity he responded, “Probably not anytime soon. I’m at the latter stages of my career, and I’ve been doing this for a while so to change up what I’ve been doing probably not.”
Carolyn Moen is the world language department head. “Not only do I like teaching kids, I also like helping teachers become better teachers,”she said. She opens up her classroom to teachers when they have meetings. She also leaves school later and even comes in on the weekends, but even with all of this she doesn’t think her job is harder, it is just different from before. Even with all of the extra work she likes her job and wants to continue being the department head.
Cammie Moody is the Multilingual Learners department head, She was leading the Multilingual Learner department for a long time so when they had just made the position this year she took it. “There never was an ML department chair. This was the first time that they opened it. It was just kind of a natural fit because I had already been doing a lot of the work prior.” She said her job has gotten harder because of all the new responsibilities such as observing classes while coaching teachers to meet the needs of their students. Even with these new responsibilities she enjoys being the department head.
Nichole Cooper is the Visual Arts department head. She moved up the ladder from teacher to PLC( professional learning community) and when the former Visual Arts department head Brian Atkinson was promoted to assistant principal she was promoted to department head. She comes in on the weekends to catch up and get extra work in if necessary. “It’s sometimes difficult to time manage them with being a teacher because I have all the normal responsibilities like planning, prepping, and grading but then I have additional work like doing observations and leading meetings and making sure my teachers have everything they need, so it does make the job a little more difficult.” Even though she is doing all of this she still would not give up being a department head.
