Coral Platt

Lincoln educators share their experiences with teaching. They discuss grades, connection with students and their love of learning.

Teachers and students go to school in the same building, but their experiences are almost completely different. Students, of course, know what it is like to be a student, but what is it like to be a teacher at Lincoln?

Amanda-Jane Elliott teaches IB Language and Literature SL to juniors and seniors. She loves the entire process of reading and discussing literature.

Her favorite part of teaching is “reading the books and teaching the books and seeing people getting excited about the books,” she said. “Sometimes I think, ‘I can’t believe I’m paid to do this.’”

Maggie Raczek, an IB Biology teacher, agrees with Elliott and loves being able to teach a subject she cares about.

“Biology is so fun to teach,” she said. “It is just super interesting and changes every year. It’s the study of living things, what’s not cool about that?”

In addition to trying to get students interested in what they are learning, many teachers try to provide a structured learning environment. Rebecca Eisenberg, who teaches IB History SL, Political Economy and IB Theory of Knowledge, believes that structure helps her students learn.

“I think kids, and all humans, need structure and need guidance and guidelines. I think that post-Covid, it’s been absent in a lot of kids’ lives,” she said.

Raczek puts a lot of time into designing engaging activities and homework, as well as giving feedback on completed assignments.

“Sometimes I don’t think students recognize that however much time a student spends on an assignment, I’m spending ten times as much time in giving feedback and evaluating their work,” she said.

However, she feels like grades, rather than education and learning, are a priority for many students.

“I want to remind students that a grade that they earn in a class in the grand scheme of things, is not who they are as a person, it’s just one small slice of one moment in time,” she said. “The joy of education is the exposure to all these different ideas.”

Elliott, who was interviewed after finals week, feels like the desire for certain grades sometimes turns school into a transactional experience.

“I think a lot of teachers are having a really hard time [after finals week] because it’s the end of the semester. I feel like I’ve turned into a vending machine for grades […] and I’m really over it this week,” she said. “I wish there was a way to be more interested in the content and less interested in the grade.”

Elliott wants better communication between teachers and students.

“I wish [students] know that we’re people. It feels like us and them, when we’re really working for the same thing,” she said.

Eisenberg also wishes there was more connection between students and teachers.

“I wish kids understood how much we genuinely care about them and their well-being,” she said.