What do the teachers of New Providence High School think about their workplace? What is there to love about it? What improvements should be implemented? Here’s what three NPHS teachers answered.
“I love that we have a strong faculty that seems to get along, be helpful and collaborate on things,” said Social Studies teacher Walter Kempner.
“We’re always interested in trying to present the best methods in teaching.”
The great staff isn’t where it ends, however. The pleasant environment that both the students and staff at NPHS create is an important part of the NPHS experience.
Kempner said: “It helps students to feel that they are comfortable, safe and that they belong.”
On the other hand, Kempner said, “I think we still want to try to push to be more aware of not only the community but how we can help and give back to the planet.”
Additionally, he said, “Challenging our students to think more critically and even take on the day to day mundane stuff is something I think we do well with our students here, but it probably can be reinforced better and more consistently by our teaching staff and the administration in general.”
Language Arts teacher Melissa Hatfield said: “I think that the teachers, the administrators, and the students are always great. I think the energy in the building is always super positive. “I love the involvement that students have in all kinds of activities. I feel like most are involved in sports, but we’ve also got musical theater and all sorts of clubs.”
Hatfield did identify some areas of improvement: “Something we’ve already started improving are things that bring the whole school together like during the school day. Last year, we started having more spirit weeks, and we had a pep rally along with other things that brought not only the students together, but the teachers together as well.”
She believes continuing these would bring a greater sense of fun and belonging to the school.
Daniel Dougher, a Science teacher at NPHS said: “I love the sense of community that the school has and the community as a whole has.”
However, there is still room for improvement from his point of view.
“I think that we could always improve the level of voice that the students have within the curriculum,” said Dougher.
“They should be able to contribute on what they would like to learn about in the context of the courses that we’re already teaching.”
He says peer work, peer tutoring, and other things of that nature would be beneficial for students.
“We do that a lot for midterms,” he said. “But I don’t feel like students necessarily take advantage or offer their services during the course of any other time of the year.”