Del Val senior Gwendolyn Taffera spent the first semester of this school year teaching at Frenchtown Elementary School.
Taffera worked at Frenchtown for about four months in a combined third and fourth-grade classroom. There are about five other teachers in the room with her at the same time, which she said helps a lot when working with her students.
“They are the minds of the world and the future generations of everything,” Taffera said.
Taffera is not part of the Education Academy, as this is its first year running, but she still pursued her own internship. She spent time at Frenchtown three times a week after school. Because she is in a classroom with a small number of students, she said she has been able to get to know each of them individually.
In the spring, Taffera transitions to her mother’s first-grade classroom at Kingwood Township School. Taffera said she likes working with her mother because it shows her how plans can change if students go off track or something unexpected happens in the classroom.
“My mom has 22 kids in a class, and plans change even if a kid throws a pencil,” Taffera said.
Taffera is also an involved student, participating in several extracurricular activities and sports, including lacrosse, marching band, theater and serving as a wrestling photographer.
In the fall, she performs in the marching band, where she plays the drum and has participated in for the past five years. At the same time, she runs the soundboard for the fall play, which was “Back to the 80’s” this year. More recently, she has taken photos at nearly every wrestling match and ran the soundboard for the winter musical, “The Spongebob Musical.” Taffera has also been the girls lacrosse team’s varsity goalie since her freshman year.
Taffera is planning to go to a small university where she can expand her teaching knowledge. She hopes to eventually teach in an elementary school classroom alongside other teachers so the class can be more creative and collaborative.
“I enjoy teaching with others because it makes it easier to connect with certain students and collaborate,” Taffera said.
