Debbie Calfin recently retired after spending 37 years teaching a range of grades at Cranbrook Brookside, with most of them spent teaching 2nd grade. 

Host Qadir Muhammad sits down with Debbie as she reflects on her career and time at Cranbrook: teaching elementary school through COVID, cultivating a classroom environment that stimulates growth, Grandparent’s Day, and shares some advice for the next generation of teachers. 

Aim High is a production of Cranbrook Kingswood School and is produced by University FM.

EPISODE QUOTES:

Demonstrating passion in teaching

11:47 - I think that I, as a teacher, had to demonstrate my passion for whatever we were doing. My investment in it, I had to be interested in it, whatever it would be, and bring them into it as well. And the other piece for my classrooms is always is the ability to know that they don't have to know everything right away.

The impact of teaching to the children

17:34 - Teaching may look easy, but it's not. But it's the best job you could have. To be able to spend time with children knowing that you are making a difference in their lives is huge.

One of the magical things about Cranbrook Brookside

27:07 - One of the other things that I love about Cranbrook Brookside is the yearly chapels and the plays that each grade level puts on. Because I've seen it myself where children that are very shy and not really confident start in the first grade, and by the fifth grade, they're often one of the leads of the play. And it carries over to their confidence in front of a group, you know, working collaboratively to put on the production doing the music. The fine arts teachers, especially the music and drama teachers, were just extraordinary in that way.