Insight_Inaugural Edition

6 Inaugural Edition | Marquis Who ’ s Who Insight SAUNDRA PASCHAL Mathematics Teacher San Angelo, TX How have you navigated disruptions in your industry to remain a top professional? You need to be willing to accept changes and always continue to learn how to use and apply new technology. What are two key behaviors/personality traits that allow you to be effective in your role? I always think about needing to be flexible and very patient. Patient with the children and administrators, too. Administrators are given directions that they need to pass down to us, and we need to be sure that we don’t take it out on them because it’s not their fault. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved over time? Today’s young people are not always willing to just accept what you say. In most cases, they challenge you or want you to clarify — they will ask questions about why, how or when do we need to use this? Those are the students you know will go on and be fine because they recognize that they have to support themselves. What is the most important issue/challenge you are dealing with in your industry right now? How to prepare curriculum that will be useful or relative to the students when they go off to pursue a career. The math stuff that I do, I have to consider how it is used out there in the business world. Sometimes I might learn a new trick, based on how it might actually be applied. DR. MYRA B. WEIGER Education Educator, Department Chairman Irvington, NJ How have you navigated disruptions in your industry to remain a top professional? A lot of people are afraid of change, or they don’t want change and they become aggressive or nervous about it, so I have been very careful to never get anybody uptight about that. I have a sense of humor — I have made jokes and laughed about orders I gave my staff. I have always been a lonely thinker. I think a great deal — I don’t jump on things in a hurry and I don’t always follow orders in a hurry. I also don’t break orders in a hurry, so I think about whatever it is I am doing. I have been successful and achieved the things I have because I did what I thought was the best thing to do, because it wasn’t always what everyone else did. What is the most important issue/challenge you are dealing with in your industry right now? I think the biggest challenge right now is the place of technology in the school. I don’t mean in the school system — I believe in technology and I think there are very good things about it. On the other hand, I see students walking around with their noses down looking at phones in their hands, and they don’t even see a flock of geese in the sky flying in V-formation to another place. They are unaware of nature or things natural in the world. Students need to learn to remember things and not just have it on a piece of machinery. They need to be able to think things through and not just get an answer. How do you feel your industry has changed/evolved over time? I think that education is missing the point of human contact because there are a lot of kids that don’t go to school anymore – they learn at home. I think that takes away from the human quality that we want to develop and work with, and have relationships with other people.