Schools

Meet Joanne Green

SVMS teacher brings knowledge and passion of a 32-year career into the classroom.

Each week, Scotts Valley Patch will spotlight a local teacher or administrator for his or her efforts in the classroom and around the school community.

This week, we spotlight Joanne Green, a sixth-grade history and English teacher at Scotts Valley Middle School. Green, who holds a degree from the University of Southern California, has taught for 32 years, with 19 in the Scotts Valley Unified School District. Along with SVMS, she has taught at Brook Knoll and Vine Hill elementary schools and has taught every grade from kindergarten to seventh.

“I like change. I like to experience different curriculum and grade levels,” she said “And I’ve liked them all, but I have really enjoyed middle school, because it is so challenging.”

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Scotts Valley Patch: What made you want to become a teacher?

Joanne Green: I just love everything about it. When I was a kid, I would play being a teacher. I love the smell of the chalkboard. I just love it all and I’m never bored.

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Patch: What is the biggest challenge teachers face today?

Green: Having taught for so long, I think it’s the same thing over and over. Basically, the money never trickles down to the classroom.

Patch: What kinds of things do your students do to make you proud?

Green: Following directions. It makes me proud when they come in and sit down and look on the board to see what they have to do and do it. Having them become more independent makes me proud.

Patch: What do you do to get through to your students?

Green: There are so many different ways to teach. I try to bring things into the real world and try to make them feel that the classroom is a comfortable place where they know they can ask a question. I really try to engage them.

Patch: What is something parents or outsiders don’t understand about your job?

Green: How hard it is to have a classroom full of students and keep them engaged and disciplined.

Patch: What makes Scotts Valley Middle School unique?

Green: Even though we have the worst accommodations ever, we make it the best it can be by having a principal that is loved and respected and listens to us. She makes me the best I can be. And I also love the teachers I work with. It’s like we are one big happy family, and I just love it.

Patch: When your students leave at the end of the year, what do you hope they take away from their time with you?

Green: A job well done, that they feel they have learned so much and feel they can go to the seventh grade prepared, knowing what to do and what is expected of them, and knowing that learning can be fun.


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