“THE CHILDREN ARE MY MIRROR”
“I was very deliberate about choosing [this school] and not [a school that is specifically high-needs]. (…) Of course I also care about those children but because I was a beginning teacher when I started here, I also knew you have to be really strong and know what you're doing to teach in different, more difficult situations [which I wasn’t yet]. (…) In this school most of the parents are (…) highly educated. I think it was a little bit easier for me to be here as a teacher who was still learning. So that's why I wanted to to go here. I also know my own personality. Children can be really disrespectful and you can get really angry and that's not what you need. I have to do what I need to stay calm and not take it too personally (…) I think it’s very interesting. It's a mirror—the children are my mirror (…) So if they are bored, it's because of me (…) I think if you are a good teacher, you can teach anywhere, but I think when I started I was not good enough yet to teach in a more difficult situation.”
“I like my colleagues—most of them. I see that in some ways they are different than me because (..) I was on my own [for so long], I worked for myself as a violinist and I was freelance (…) When I see things that are not done efficiently or I hear colleagues complain, I am more direct [maybe because I am older and have done more things].”
“I also get inspiration from some of my colleagues and it's nice to talk after school. We learn from each other. [It’s good when] there’s nice energy and you have the same attitude and you want to teach children something—when we are all interested in helping young people and making the world a little bit better.”