Jennifer Cala

Q- What is the best advice you have been given about teaching?

A-Everybody is nervous when you first start. Kids are. Teachers are. Everybody kind of feels the same way. So as long as you do what you need to do, ask questions and ask for help if you need to, you’ll be fine. Always remember to ask for help. Everybody has questions, and they are expecting that.

Q-What made you choose to work at AAHS?

A- I worked at the Altoona High School for a different agency when I first I started teaching here. I really loved the staff and the kids that I met, so I knew when I got into teaching that this was the school that I wanted to work at.

Q- When was the moment you realized you wanted to be a teacher? 

A- It was a long time ago when I was still in college. I started out as a law student. A pre-law student and then I was working in the schools at the time, and I really loved it. I decided that was what I wanted to do.

Q- What is your favorite part  of teaching so far? Why?

A-When students understand it. Sometimes the students struggle with learning the concepts and stuff, so we go through it. We teach them and then when that moment comes when they actually understand it, that’s a really nice moment to experience… It’s amazing to watch.

Q- Who inspired you to become a teacher? 

A- I would say probably the teachers that I’ve worked with. Just watching them make a difference in the kids lives and things like that. I knew I always wanted to make a difference, but watching them do it and watching their students progress and seeing how they helped improve the kids lives, I knew that I kind of wanted to do the same thing.

Q-What college did you go to? 

A- I attended George and Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey.

Q- What do you enjoy doing in your free time? 

A- I like writing, and I do a lot of freelance writing for articles and blogs and things like that. I also have a five-year-old little girl, so I like spending a lot of time with her, doing a lot of traveling and doing fun things together.

Q- Why did you choose the subject you are teaching? 

A- I chose special education because, like I said, I have taught it in the past and I really liked it.  Geometry has been a challenge for me. I did take it in high school, but it has been a long time, and it’s kind of interesting because it is a challenge to learn things that I have learned and forgotten and then learning with the kids too. We are kind of learning together.

Q- As a student, I know I tend to get nervous for the first weeks of school. As a teacher in a new school, do you feel that sense of nervousness you once felt as a student? 

A- It is a different type of nervousness. You have the same nerves because kids want to fit in, they want to fit in, they want other students to like them, they want to do well in classes and it is kind of the same thing for teachers. They want their students to like them and know that they can come to them and they can be a safe place for them . And then you want to make sure you are doing the best you can, and they are learning everything they are supposed to. So that makes you a little nervous too. Just making sure you are on the right track with them. 

Q- Is there something you would want to do during your teaching career?

A-  I am a writer, so  I have thought about the writing clubs and getting involved in some of those. Mrs. Negri does the Mock Trial so… I’m going to see how much I can help with that. And I love the theater aspect too, but I have no skills in that area, so I don’t think I would be super helpful there, but it is something I really enjoy.