Beth Nickle
I come from a family of teachers. I also took a class in college. I thought I was going to be an attorney, and I took a class in college, and really enjoyed working with — doing some one-act plays. And so I thought, "well, I'm going to be a drama teacher." But then I came back. I got my master's degree, and I got the interview at the alternative school, and my path completely changed.
Who attends Study?
If you can think of a reason that a person might not do well in a traditional setting, we probably have someone here, or have had them in the last couple of years, that would fit that reason. So we have people who maybe have a lot of anxiety in a bigger setting. We have students who got behind on credits, and they might come here because it is smaller classes. They get more one-on-one, and so we can help them get caught up to where they need to be. We have students who maybe need our nursery. We do have a nursery, so we have some students that take advantage of that. So there's just a lot of different reasons why students might come here.
How it feels to see students succeed
Knowing that you got to be a part of that chapter of their life to help them wherever they were when they came to us at school and then to see them succeed is just wonderful. I see lots of kids that come back and want to talk, and maybe they don't come here to Study, but I'll run into them in the community. But what's happening now is that their children are coming here. And so someone will say, 'oh, you had my mom,' and their parents are wanting them to come here because they had a good experience at the alternative high school so they want their students to have, their children to have, that same experience. And so that has been really interesting and neat to see that the family and where the family is going and the support that we can offer them. There are so many wonderful things about teaching at the alternative school. One of the big ones is the students. You just have this amazing range of students who come from all five high schools. So you never know each year, like who you're going to meet and who you're going to get to know. We have students for a variety of reasons, with a variety of different talents and abilities. And so getting to work with them, getting to be a part of their journey makes this job really fascinating and fun. And I also work with a great team of teachers who I would not do this if they were not here.
I think there are two different levels (of support). We have formal supports where we're working together to help with students who maybe need a little extra support, need extra help and so we meet about those students about every three weeks. We also meet weekly about our curriculum and how the students are doing in our classes and so how we can best help them. So we meet with — all the English II teachers meet together, and, even though we're small here, we still are very supportive of each other, and I think it helps — I think, sometimes teaching can feel like you teach in a silo, but we really work to make sure that we're helping each other and supporting each other. And then there's also informal support where people will just check in — how are you doing? Our yearbook's due next week, and I've had so many teachers check in to make sure, how are you doing? What do you need? Can we help you? And so, just having that kind of informal support also is one of the things that makes this job so great.
"I think that teaching is a profession of the heart, and it is both an art and a science, and there are few jobs that give you an opportunity to be both that artist and that scientist."
Challenges
There are some students that I maybe don't feel like I know how to best support them, how to help them. And so I struggle and trying to find how can I best work with them and and help them be successful at school. I think, you know, there are days where it's just a little bit crazy. And so you just think, why am I here? Why am I doing this? But there are so many other great days that you just keep going. Doesn't matter.
Teaching is fulfilling
Teaching is a very fulfilling profession. I am very glad that I ended up here, and I am so lucky I ended up in the alternative because it was kind of just a chance that it happened this way. You know, like I said, I thought I would be a drama teacher and so I never thought that this would be where I would be teaching, but I would just, you know, say that it is a fulfilling, wonderful job, and I really hope that people will consider it as a career because we need the best possible teachers that we can get for our students.
I think that teaching is a profession of the heart, and it is both an art and a science, and there are few jobs that give you an opportunity to be both that artist and that scientist. I think it also, to me, education is so important because it is crucial to our democracy. It's crucial to, you know, everyday life. And so being a part of that and getting to walk along a student as they are getting the knowledge, the information and the skills they need is just a wonderful calling. And so I would just say find a good group of teachers to work with and get that support, but know that there will be both the great days and the not so great.
I think teachers who play into their natural abilities are probably some of the best teachers because they don't follow a formula, but they are using their own skills and talents to help the students learn and support their critical thinking and all of the skills that they need.
Teacher pay
You know, my grandmother was a teacher, and I think the year I was born, she made $5,000. So when I became a teacher, I made $18 (thousand). And she just kept telling me how lucky I was. And so I always thought, 'oh, I'm in I'm in good shape.' You know, it is frustrating sometimes when I see my friends who have gone on careers that are outside of education and have made a lot more money than I have. But I do think the more we can support education financially, the better off we're going to be for the future. I think the investment that we put in education now will help us create a much richer future for everybody. And so I would always say put money into education.
What's in Nickle's future?
I am fairly certain I'm going to teach next year, but I don't know how much longer. I don't want to be the teacher that people are like, "oh please, can you leave and get out now?" So I want to make sure that I leave before I get to that point. I want to make sure I'm still being an effective teacher. But I love it, and I'll need to keep working no matter what, so I want to do the job I love.
