New teachers excited for start of school year at Talawanda
Across the Talawanda, 13 new teachers started their first year in the district this week. Those teachers include three at Bogan Elementary.
Plenty of new faces joined the team in the Talawanda School District for the first week of classes this year. Most students had their first day of class on Aug. 14, while kindergarteners and first graders will begin on Aug. 19.
Each year, new teachers filter into Talawanda schools as classes start, spending the weeks leading up to the first day learning the ins and outs of the district and setting up their rooms. At Bogan Elementary, which also welcomed a new principal this summer, three new teachers spent the early weeks of August getting ready to make their start at the elementary school.
For Skylar Pittman, who welcomed students into her fourth grade classroom at Bogan during an open house Aug. 13, her new job is something of a return. She grew up in Oxford and attended Bogan herself before student teaching in a second grade classroom there two years ago. Now, she’ll have some of the same students in a class of her own.
“I’m super excited to dive into the new curriculum and … really see how they’ve grown from second grade,” Pittman said. “That I think is probably my most exciting thing. I can’t wait to see how the ones I’ve had in second grade, how they’ve grown.”
This is Pittman’s second year teaching. Last year, she worked at Brookville Elementary. In the weeks leading up to the first day of class, she said she spent a lot of time making sure the decor in her classroom created a welcoming environment for her students.
Like Pittman, Sydney Long is also teaching at Bogan for the first time this August for her second full year as a teacher. Long grew up in the Lakota School District before heading to West Virginia for college, where she also spent her first year as a professional music educator.
Now, Long is bringing her love of singing and performing to the elementary students at Bogan.
“I love to be very student-focused and have them make the choices and kind of lead me where I need to get them,” Long said. She’s looking forward to putting on a themed concert with the kindergarten and first grade students, as well as a production with the second through fifth graders, who she’s heard have strong opinions on what to perform.
For the week and a half leading up to the start of the school year, Long said she worked with the former music teacher at Bogan to make sure she had access to instruments like ukuleles and boomwhackers. Then, she said setting up the music room took a couple of late nights.
Abbigayle Robinson is starting her fifth year of teaching and her first at Talawanda. She had a chance to meet most of her fourth grade students during Bogan’s open house Aug. 13.
“I’m surprised at how many people have shown up; it’s fantastic,” Robinson said. “I was lucky if I had like a fourth of my kids’ parents show up [at my previous schools] … This is very different than what I’m used to. All the energy is coming out.”
Robinson’s classroom is across the hall from Pittman’s. Robinson said it’s been nice to get to know the other teachers like Pittman, and she’s excited to figure out their place in the community together.
