*Title I Teacher*
By: BHS Staff Profiles
April 19, 2024
Chosen for this week’s Staff Spotlight is Mrs. Kristina Batcha. This is currently year 11 as a Brooklyn staff member. Before coming here, she was into designing and creating art. Outside of school, Mrs. Batcha can be found doing family activities, reading, and doing arts and crafts. A fun fact about her is that she has not been on a rollercoaster in 22 years, but she absolutely loves them.
Q: Why did you choose to become a teacher?
A: “I remember watching some of my classmates struggle to read growing up. All throughout high school, I saw the same thing. Watching my friends struggling to read pushed me into teaching, so I could help know what to do in the future.”
Q: What is the average school day like for you?
A: “A lot of my days are spent working with small groups of students to give them reading support in addition to what they get in their classrooms.”
Q: Has there been a moment in your career when you thought about giving up?
A: “I know the years after COVID were challenging with the schedules that we went through and the challenges that it brought. I did not think about giving up; it just made the work days a little bit harder and stressful.”
Q: How do you manage to work with students who are reluctant to work?
A: “A lot of what you need to do is to try to motivate them in a way they like. Pulling out games to practice is helpful. I also get a chance to take them away from the classroom to work in a smaller group and that makes them a little more confident to work sometimes. You also need to make connections with each other so that you can ask them about how their weekend was or how they are doing, so they can work better with their teachers that way.”
Q: What is your favorite quote?
A: “‘The world was hers for the reading,’ by Betty Smith.”
Q: If you could go back in time, what is something that you would change?
A: “Spend more time traveling throughout my twenties to have the chance to learn more about the world and see more places.”
Q: If you had the opportunity to travel to a very unique place, where would you go?
A: “Anything out West would be unique to me. Maybe Alaska to get to see the wilderness, the people, and the lifestyle and bring some of those ideas around here.”
Q: What is your favorite flower?
A: “Daffodils because they are the first flower I see and recognize in Spring, so it is a reminder that we are almost through Winter and that Spring is on its way.”
Thank you for letting us interview you, Mrs. Batcha. We appreciate all that you do and wish you nothing but the best throughout the rest of the school year. Travel to Alaska!
THE RETURN OF THE EYE 