The re-start of school is an exciting time for students — and also their teachers.
Across the nation, school districts are experiencing teacher shortages, and South Florida is no exception. But new and veteran teachers in Miami-Dade County Public Schools who were back in the classrooms this week are still passionate and hopeful about their profession.
Karina Miguelez is starting her 28th year teaching in South Florida. She teaches 3rd grade reading at South Miami K-8 Center, a school she’s been at for 17 years. She said her motivation is her students.
“I had a student last year that had not been successful in reading, so we worked very hard with her and at the end of the year she said, ‘Ms. Miguelez, you changed my reading life,’” Miguelez said. “Just that comment makes me want to come to work every day. ”
According to the Florida Education Association, the statewide teachers union, there were almost 10,000 vacancies in the state's schools — around 5,000 each for teachers and education support staff positions — as of this month. Their data shows almost 700 total openings in Miami-Dade, 1,200 in Broward, nearly 1,400 in Palm Beach County and 26 in Monroe County.
Despite the vacancies at Miami-Dade Public Schools, Miguelez said that there isn’t much turnover at South Miami K-8 Center. In fact, principal Evie Mayor said the school is fully staffed.
“We have a happy ambience, it isn’t a stressful place for teachers to work at,” Mayor said. “I actually had a few teachers call me, [looking] for a position to open up.”
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Alina Hermida, a 4th and 5th grade reading teacher, credits administrative support for the school’s high retention rate. She’s going into her 29th year of teaching, and said her colleagues at South Miami K-8 Center feel like family.
“If I don't have something, I know I can go to anybody to help me out,” Hermida said. “It's not a one-man job. You need help, and you need your support, and that's what we have here.”
However, outside of the classroom, Hermida feels like society tends to undervalue how much work teachers do. She said even though the school day ends at 3:30 p.m., she never feels truly off the clock because she’s always thinking about how to improve her lesson plans and help her students learn better.
“They think it’s just a 10-month job,” Hermida said. “They don’t understand how hard it is to be in the classroom. You’re dealing with 20 kids that come from different backgrounds … and then you’re trying to bring them all together to learn the same concept.”
On the other hand, Miguelez said that she’s felt more appreciated recently and many people have thanked her for her work. While both teachers have faced obstacles in the profession, Miguelez said the sacrifice is worth it to help her students succeed.
“At the end of the day, we're here for the kids,” Miguelez said. “You want for them to get the best education that they can get, so you do whatever you have to do to get them there.”
Entering the field
For 22-year-old Nicole Diaz, teaching is a new experience. She graduated from Florida International University in May with a degree in biology and just started her first year teaching high school students at Terra Environmental Research Institute in Kendall.
At FIU, Diaz completed FIU Teach, a program that allows students with STEM majors to graduate with a teaching certification. She completed her student teaching internship at Terra Environmental Research Institute earlier in the year.
Although Diaz is familiar with the school and has assisted teachers and led activities, it’s her first time having an entire classroom to herself.
“I was so used to working with my mentor teacher … so now it’s a bit different,” Diaz said. “I really enjoyed the structures that she had. So I was like, ‘I’m gonna … implement that in my own room.’ I’m very grateful.”
Being a younger teacher, she says, is a challenge — and an opportunity.
“I'm the person who is literally responsible for you while you're in my room,” Diaz said. “You can’t see me as anything but the responsible adult and your teacher. So it comes with setting very clear and distinct boundaries between myself and them.”
Diaz didn’t always plan to become a teacher, but she slowly fell in love with the profession during her time in college. She said what motivated her to become a teacher was seeing first-hand how big of an impact teachers can have on students.
“My main thing is just being a positive change for them, making this room a safe space for everyone who walks in, so they can … have fun and they can learn,” Diaz said.
But becoming a teacher has financial barriers, she said. For example, during her internship through FIU Teach, she had to pay tuition and there was no compensation for her internship hours. She said it’s challenging for students who need to work at the same time.
“We’re essentially working … for experience, which is fine,” Diaz said. “[But] I know people that couldn't finish the pathway because they couldn't afford to not be able to work.”
“My main thing is just being a positive change for them, making this room a safe space for everyone who walks in, so they can … have fun and they can learn."Nicole Diaz
Alicia Romagosa Martinez, a 3rd grade teacher at Coral Gables Preparatory Academy, has some advice for new teachers.
“Don’t lose the passion. It’s what makes us be here, for them,” Martinez said. “And that’s the problem, that a lot of teachers kind of lose it and then they need to go do other things.”
She said that she still gets excited for the first day of school. And after just one day back, Diaz told WLRN she had already gotten to know her students' personalities a little bit.
“They’re very outspoken, they like to crack jokes, they like to be funny,” Diaz said. “I’m going to have a fun year.”
