One Teacher, Many Lives
by Sam Wong
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to another classroom. It’s another teacher for the same n a local elementary school grade level. The teacher at the classroom, students sit and chatter excitedly as the teacher door says, “Sorry to interrupt, is handing out the next assign- Mrs. O’Brien,” as she looks to the teacher at the desk. “Would ment. One student stands out you mind holding onto this one amongst them. He’s the only for a few minutes? I just need one not sitting in his chair; him away from my students.” the child is instead aimlessly Mrs. O’Brien looks to her and wandering the classroom and with a smile, “Sure, I’ll keep an swinging between the tables by holding himself up with his eye on him.” After sitting him hands on the tables. The teach- down in a timeout desk in the er asks him to stop, and he does corner for a few minutes she not. Again she prompts the stu- goes to the little boy at the time out desk. “Do you know why dent, and he finally sits down. She turns around and not more you’re here, Sam?” she asks. than a minute later the boy is right back to it. She says “come t’s been over a decade since with me” and walks him down then. These days, Mrs. O’Brien
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is working in a very different setting. Barbara O’Brien’s started her career as a second grade teacher at Landels Elementary School in Mountain View, CA. It was there that she first saw students struggling for their disadvantages, which many of them couldn’t really help. Some had learning disabilities while others simply did not come from English speaking families. She saw the benefit of programs like Title I because Landels was a Title I school. The funds from Title I helped to pay for extra second language learning services like reading and math intervention tutors. Those tutors were certified as sub-
stitute teachers and would be on campus every day working with small groups of kids identified by the teachers as being at risk of failing those classes. She saw how The No Child Left Behind Act took away a lot of services like intervention tutoring just because the tutors were not credentialed teachers. She realized that becoming a principal (a.k.a. Site Administrator), could allow her to help use the government funds in an appropriate way to provide good support programs for struggling students and restore the balance. An opportunity at the district level in an administrative role opened up, and she realized this is where her skills and years of training could provide the most benefit to students. As a principal in charge of the funds, she would have access to the data that showed
where was the highest need for those funds. She could then ensure the kids who could benefit were identified and could get the services they needed to be successful.
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arbara O’Brien was born in New York state & moved to California as an adult. She got her undergraduate degree from SUNY Fredonia College in NY, with a degree in ele-
mentary education. She spent her first ten years of teaching at Landels Elementary School as a second grade teacher. She was very popular as a teacher and many parents requested her for their children. Her principal at Landels had this to say about her: “Barb has a unique teaching style that her students really relate to and she finds creative ways to present the curriculum to make learning fun”. She makes my job hard sometimes because so many parents request her for their child’s teacher and I can’t accommodate them all. Her former Landels principal also encouraged her to continue with her schooling because she recognized her leadership qualities. She had no qualms about leaving her in charge of the campus if she had to be off-site for meetings. Barbara went back to school and earned an administrative certification and spent three years as an elementary school principal. When she was a second grade
teacher, she was highly effective in the classroom setting. When a student misbehaved, she always seemed to be the best when it came to helping them improve their behavior. It wasn’t that she was particularly forceful or harsh, but rather that she could understand a kid and see a situation from their perspective very well. That way, she knew just how to coax them back to good behavior. She had a warm demeanor, yet knew how to be politely firm. Students felt guilty when they misbehaved because they did not like upsetting such a kind person. She was also a highly creative teacher, and was innovative and unique in a classroom setting. For example, she had a mini stoplight that was operated by a remote. She’d use it to control the students by telling them that a red light meant stop and so on. It was early on that the principal of the school at the time, Alicia Henderson, noticed her potential. Yet it was not until nearly a decade into her teaching career that she made the first big jump. In her years in school programs, many will most clearly remember her as an incredible school teacher.
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rs. O’Brien’s current role is the Coordinator of Categorical & EL Programs for the Berryessa School District in
San Jose. This role is important because there are 8000 students in this district and over half of them struggle with learning English, which is an impediment to their success in school. Her current responsibilities include managing the funding in the program and determining how to distribute funding as necessary. This impacts all students who are struggling due to language barriers. Students that are assisted by the program are expected to show gradual improvement in their English language abilities in the classroom. Many students these days are from immigrant families and need more support to learn English because their families do not speak English at home and never learned how. Yet, the program is not without criticism. Some kids are behind others in class because of further language difficulties. Still, this has mainly been to do with the lack of reinforcement at home. Students whose families
do not speak any English come home to a household where they speak the language native to their parents. There is also much controversy over the success rate of these programs. In general, EL programs have not been highly successful. As she has only been in the position for three months, her impact is yet to be measured. Nonetheless, she is off to a great start and she’s as fit as anyone for the job.
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he actually expects to hold the position for at least a whopping 5 years. If things go smoothly, she may hold the position as long as 7 years or more. This all depends on her say on things, as well as current events that may lead to changes in the system that affect her position. Someday, she’d like to return to teaching. Not classroom teaching like originally, but rather as a teacher of teachers. She won’t stay in one box, though. Self-limitation just isn’t in her nature. She knows her own strengths and has her aspirations. Under her belt she’s got plenty of experience in teacher instruction and knows the field well. She knows lots about training teachers so strengths may be used in that area.
“At the end of the day, every parent just wants their child to be successful. You always have to remember that”.