Author | Michael Powell |
(From left to right: Kristy Mulkey, Dawn Brothers, and Janet Payton)
There are many obvious differences between public school and Scholars Guild like how we meet only one day a week, but what are some of the biggest differences for the teachers? How does one day a week work for them? Keep reading to find out!
Kristy Mulkey, who is an American History teacher at Scholars Guild, taught public school from 2005-2007 and 2014-2018! Congratulations on your first year at SGA! She said that the biggest difference for her in public school was, “Paperwork. Lots more in the public school system.” She continued to talk about how their system is so test driven, that she was always doing paperwork. She noted that our system is, “great because everyone learns and functions without someone breathing down their neck, but difficult because we only meet for 1 hour 15 minutes a week.”
Dawn Brothers, a math teacher here at SGA taught public school from 1996-2000. Brothers started teaching at SGA in 2011. She talked about how at Scholars Guild the students and parents are more engaged and harder working. She expressed that there is a lot more support from families where in public school there was not quite as much. “Because of active parent involvement, one day a week works fine, but without support from the parents our system would not work.”
Janet Payton is a science teacher at SGA. She taught elementary education in public school from 1992-1999. She started teaching at Scholars Guild in 2013. Like Brothers, she says, “Kids here have more support at home and are better prepared.” She explained that SGA has much smaller classes and she knows more of the kids. She loves getting to teach and explore science as God’s creation rather than excluding God. She talked about how one day a week is doable, but difficult because she has to rely on the kids doing most of their work at home.
I think the bottom line is that in public school, teachers cannot quite teach their way, but are instead asked to follow the guidelines and requirements of the system. On the other hand, at Scholars Guild, they have the opportunity to teach students as they would like to and get to know the individual students and families.