SJC Brooklyn’s chapter of Kappa Delta Pi — an honor society dedicated to education — hosted a virtual Celebration of Teaching event this week.
A group of four alumni joined graduating seniors in the child study program to talk about teaching and some struggles they may have faced — especially with remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The alumni, who all hold degrees in child study, literacy and cognition, or both, spoke candidly about their first year in the classroom, expectations, and handling difficult students.
Students joined the virtual Zoom event and asked the alumni — Katherine Danino ’07 ’09, Jenna DiMauro ’11 ’13, Jocelyn Panameno ’18 ’20 and Heather Calix ’19 — questions about their teaching experiences.
Esther Berkowitz, Ph.D., associate professor and director of SJC Brooklyn’s literacy and cognition program; Sarah Birch, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of the childhood and adolescence special education program; and Karen Russo, Ed.D. a professor of child study and literacy and cognition, also sat in on the event.
Kappa Delta Pi's Alpha Epsilon Omega Chapter hosted its first VIRTUAL Celebration of Teaching event today! 4 fabulous Child Study graduates joined us live to share their expertise, wisdom, & encouragement with the Class of 2020! 👩🏻🏫👨🏾🏫 @SJCNY @SJCBKKDP @kappadeltapi #SJCNYStrong pic.twitter.com/VMKUjL0XwI
— SJCBKChildStudy (@sjcbkchildstudy) May 4, 2020
Meet the Alumni Speakers:
Katherine Danino
Katherine Danino ’07 ’09
SJC Programs: B.A. in Child Study (2007), M.A. in Literacy and Cognition (2009)
Where she’s teaching now: P.S. 52 in Brooklyn
Why she’s thankful for her St. Joe’s education: “When I think about my first year teaching I remember that it was really hard … But I was prepared. When I reflect on that, and my time at St. Joe’s, I realize I was prepared to be in my first classroom and I was prepared to be part of a school community. I felt ready, and I had a passion for it.”
Jenna DiMauro
Jenna DiMauro ’11 ’13
SJC Programs: B.A. in Child Study (2011), M.A. in Literacy and Cognition (2013)
Where she’s teaching now: P.S. 255 in Brooklyn
Advice for new teachers: “Your first year is crazy. You’re going to be up for many nights thinking, ‘what can I do to make my lesson fun?’ or ‘am I meeting the needs of all of my learners?’ or if I’m getting observed, ‘is the principal going to think my lesson was rigorous enough?’ All that stuff will come with practice and time. My biggest takeaway is to really build that relationship with your students. Kids know if you have a soft spot for them and they are more willing to open up to you if you open up to them.”
Jocelyn Panameno
Jocelyn Panameno ’18 ’20
SJC Programs: B.A. in Child Study (2018), M.A. in Literacy and Cognition (2020)
Where she’s teaching now: P.S. 255 in Brooklyn
Why she’s thankful for her St. Joe’s education: “Trust the education you received at St. Joseph’s. I saved most of my stuff and believe it or not at some point, you will go back to them and say, ‘I’m so happy I did a demo IEP.’ A lot of the paperwork in the IEPs and intervention plans go into your teaching and helping you be the best teacher in the classroom. They start to go hand-in-hand, and they start to become less scary, and you start to see how important they are.”
Heather Calix
SJC Program: M.A. in Literacy and Cognition (2019)
Where she’s teaching now: St. Joseph Catholic Academy in Queens
Advice for new teachers: “Your intent is the most important thing. What do you want the kids to get out of it? If you go in there with their needs in mind, what they need to do, what you want them to get out of it — then they will get something out of it. That’s what’s most important … We teachers can do anything and we don’t let anything stop us. That’s one of the things I learned from St. Joe’s. You will keep moving forward when you have the best interests of your students at heart.”
