by Yovanny M, Staff Writer
How many years have you worked at Gal ? How many years as a department head ?
I have worked at Galileo for 10 years and have been a department head for 8 years
Why did you decide to teach at Galileo ?
I was looking for a job and applied here as a long term sub for one of the Spanish teachers
What are your extra responsibilities as department head ?
My responsibilities as a department head consists of giving teachers in her department what they need in order to teach. I have to keep the department healthy and I have to have visions for the department where we can discuss in the meetings what we need to improve on for the next year.
What are the benefits / drawbacks ?
A benefit from being a head department is i get an extra prep period and get to participate in decision making groups from school, i get to feel like i’m contributing to well being of a group of teachers, and some drawbacks would be it takes a lot of focus away from my classes, meetings are tedious and not always productive
What is your least favorite thing about being a DH ?
My least favorite thing is when I go to the meetings because most of them are unproductive and I think these meetings can be used for something else. I would like to go to more meaningful meetings to make the school a better place.
Why did you want to become department head ?
It’s not much that i wanted to but the position was open and no one wanted to take it so i decided to take it
How hard is it to balance your tasks as a department head and classroom teacher ?
At first it was challenging for me but over the years of being here it has became a lot easier and I now have a rhythm going and I can attempt to do both of these things
How do you think other teachers would describe you as a department head ?
I don’t know to be honest
What qualities do you bring as a department head ?
I approach this as a caretaker, it’s kind of like trying to make sure a family gets what it needs and supporting them by giving them space on what they need to do for their classes
FUN FACT about yourself
One fun fact about me is that I wanted to be a professional dancer
