What CA Means to Me
Susan
German Teacher
Concord, MA
What has changed the most (and stayed the same) during your thirty-five years at CA?
What has endured for my entire thirty-five-year career is an atmosphere in which it is uncool to tease maliciously and cool to accept and value each individual. I have often wondered how we have managed to create this atmosphere—if only so I would know what we must not alter to retain the best of our school.
What do you like best about teaching?
I have been able to make what might have been a hobby—German—a job I look forward to every day.
What’s different about teaching at CA?
Teachers at CA enjoy an unusually cordial, almost collegial, relationship with students. It is as if we are all in this together, and we should cooperate to make the most of the opportunity. While I have often written down clever comments that students have made in class so that I could use them the following year, some of my most rewarding work has been with students who were convinced that they could not learn a foreign language.
What have you learned about teaching techniques over the years?
There is no one way to teach that reaches all students. The trick is to use enough different styles that your students discover which ones work for them. I know, for example, that I learned less if I feared humiliation. It made me afraid to ask questions in high school. That experience makes me try to answer questions—all questions—without judgment.
Your daughter attended CA; she and your husband have taught here. Please describe the place CA holds in your family.
Our entire family has worked at some time or other at CA. There was one summer when all four of us were on the CA payroll. What began for me as a job to support us while my husband finished his PhD became a life's work. I feel deeply indebted to Concord Academy for encouraging me to make forays into administration at various times and for giving me the opportunity to work with so many talented students.
Everyone chuckles at the little “kiosk” outside your classroom. Why did you help start the eBay Club?
I saw a similar club in action at a school in Germany, but the "kiosk" was my response to all the little things that we could not sell on eBay. Among the first things I sold at the kiosk was some costume jewelry that had belonged to my mother. What I love about the eBay Club is that it offers the chance to have a win-win situation. The person who donates something to the school is glad to be rid of it, and the person who buys the item is pleased to get a bargain. On top of that, the school receives money for financial aid.
Describe a time a student has surprised you.
One young man struggled to complete the language requirement; he worked very hard and scraped through. Many years later he told me that he had gotten his first job after engineering school with Siemens, a German firm, because he was the only candidate who knew some German.
Interests and Activities
Secretary, American Association of Teachers of German (AATG); member, AATG Testing Commission; church choir
