This school year has been a fresh beginning to many of us in the aftermath of the pandemic that left a huge, almost two year, impact on our lives. Ongoing juniors, class of 2023, was the last freshman class that lived the experience of being in the building before the pandemic cut the year in half and isolated everyone in their homes. For the current sophomores(CO/2024) and freshman(CO/2025) at our school, being in the building is something totally new for their high school experience at Maspeth High School. Many teachers have also joined our school community and really haven't had the proper introduction just yet. Ms.McCann, an 11th Grade English teacher with 10 years of teaching experience, is one of the individuals that have been recently integrated as well. Starting off by giving a warm welcome to Ms.McCann, let's place her under the spotlight real quick and get to know her a little bit better.
Ms.McCann, like most of us, is from Queens and attended high school at Townsend Harris. At Townsend Harris, she had English teachers that made her fall in love with reading. Quickly, she realized that she wanted to do something that involved what she learned to love throughout her own high school experience. She went on to major in English and thus, she is now an English teacher at MHS. Having a teacher who is passionate about their job is the first step to a healthier education for students, as exemplified by McCann’s passion for the subject she teaches and the students she teaches it to.
Now, what does Ms.McCann’s day at MHS look like? Ms.McCann enters the building at 7:30 and starts off her day with prep for her classes. After school, she stays either to help students with work or on Tuesday’s, meet with Team Be Well which is a mental health club that she is an advisor for.
As students, we tend to view teachers as one dimensional, but Ms. McCann also has an outside life, just like the rest of us, that she most definitely enjoys. Some of her hobbies include cooking, traveling, running, and lastly and most evidently is reading books. Her favorite to read are relationship novels where the main focus throughout the book is two people. The outside life of Ms.McCann can be just like anyone else’s..
Most teachers have a deeper understanding and philosophy to what their job is really about, and as Ms.McCann said; “The best teachers are the ones that support the students in doing what they want for themselves.” Adding on to that, Ms.McCann acknowledges the fact that having her job is not at all simply teaching and students learning; but being able to be a support figure towards their students in order for them to push forward for themselves. What many students can't value enough is how many teachers there are that genuinely want their students to succeed and triumph, Mc.McCann being the perfect example. Having teachers in our school who are very much dedicated to their students and their job overall is key to having a successful and healthy school environment.
Some of us may wonder if teachers ever get “bored” of teaching the same subject to multiple classes a day; having to re-teach the same mathematical equation 5 times a day to 5 different classes or maybe having to re-read the same passage 5 times. But according to Ms.McCann that is not always the case. She feels that every class varies depending on the students. She makes an effort to get to know what the students need and then let them lead the way. Unlike any other school that she has taught at, she is able to step back and still be able to see excellent performance from her students in MHS.
Overall, coming back to the school building after a huge 1 year and a half break has been an extraordinary relief to many. We have seen a lot of new people in the building and now with the mask mandate lifted, many more new faces as well. Just like half of the students in our school, this is Ms.McCanns first year at Maspeth High School. It is definitely worthwhile to get to know a teacher further. Some may believe that by knowing their job title they know everything, but our teachers are so much more than that.