Catching Up With...Preston H. Albury Teacher of the Year

Wed, Dec 7th 2011, 09:46 AM

Being able to draw out a sense of creativity and seeing students transform the ordinary into the extraordinary are the motivational forces that drive Sheree Heastie.  She is teacher of the year from the Eleuthera high school, Preston H. Albury.  The art teacher, who has eight years experience in her field, says she did not always envision entering the classroom, but she is glad she made the choice.  Being recently transferred from Eleuthera to C.R. Walker High School in New Providence, a change from the calmer pace of the Family Island, the experienced educator says no matter where she goes there is still nothing as fulfilling for her as getting students to have confidence in themselves.
 
Q. What for you is the major difference between teaching in the Family Islands as compared to New Providence?
 
A. I found that due to supplies being limited in the Family Islands, students tend to be much more creative in the arts and crafts.  They would go to the seashore and pick up shells and other natural things they could use in their work; or most of them had a grandmother or some family member they learnt straw work from and incorporated that in their ideas as well.  On the other hand, I find students in New Providence are stronger in the drawing aspects of art, as they were more exposed to artists and seemed to find this more interesting.
 
Q. What is the greatest challenge you have faced as a teacher and how have you overcome it?
 
A. I think the greatest challenge would be to get students to be more motivated personally instead of only wanting to do work because "I need to get a grade from Ms. Heastie".  This is still an ongoing challenge and I haven't quite overcome it, but there are things I am trying.  With the help of my department we are really making efforts to do field trips with the students and, of course, I try to give as much extra help and attention to the students so they can fully understand what they are doing and be as creative as possible.
 
Q. What do you think makes you an outstanding teacher?
 
A. I think it would have to be my passion in seeing the children succeed and my faith in God that has helped me get where I am and be as excited about the job as I am.  You really need these things if you are teaching, especially if you have no kids yourself.  You have to want to do better and better and always be looking for something new and exciting to do.  It's not easy but it is something you have to have if you are going to make it in this field.
 
Q. What inspired you to pursue teaching?
 
A. Well, to be honest, I wanted to be an architect originally but due to circumstances my path didn't lead me to do that.  Instead, due to a lack of funds and the fact that I was working to push myself through school and I got a scholarship from City Market, I went into education.  What really got me committed to doing this was that I found out soon after that the ministry was paying for students pursuing education degrees.  So I got on board and really sailed through.  In the end, I realized that this was something I really did like after all.  I do love kids and although I am hard on them I always want what's best for them.  I think it's important they have people who can push them and I know despite how hard I can be, they know I love them.
 
Q. If you had a chance to change something about the education system what would you do?
 
A. I would want to make the education system more focused.  I went to Guyana in 2007 and I was shocked to see that kids still went to school like normal during the summer.  I was also surprised to see that unlike our general high school system they had community schools and senior schools which divided students into schools that best suited their strengths.  At the end of primary school the students all took a common entrance exam and the more academically inclined went to senior high and the ones who didn't pass went to a vocational or community school to learn a trade.  The students in the trade school had a second chance to get into a senior school if that was their goal after a year and even the students in the senior school who weren't performing could be sent to a trade school if they didn't keep up their grades.  The whole idea of the system was to ensure all students, no matter their academic ability or interests, would get a good education and be useful to the society by the end of their senior education.  In our system I feel we don't have enough focus and we are pushing students who have no interest or talent in the courses we offer to take them, instead of letting those more manually skilled to be placed in a trade school where they can learn about what they are interested in.  I think this would create better quality students, make senior schools much more competitive and students will be more focused and happy at the end of the day.

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