Saratoga News

Education

Photograph by George Sakkestad

Sheridan Kurtz-Fenster, a Saratoga native, returns home as a first-time teacher at Foothill Elementary School. The fourth-grade teacher is one of four first-year teachers at the district this fall.

First-year teachers share anxiety, enthusiasm

Two new teachers in town share Saratoga roots

By Michele Tjin

Sheridan Kurtz-Fenster never thought she'd be in the classroom this early in her professional career. She didn't think she had acquired the proper look yet.

"I always thought teachers were supposed to be old with long silver hair," she said. Kurtz-Fenster had figured teaching was in her future, but long after she had a successful career running her own restaurant.

The restaurant never happened, though, and she is anything but old.

At 25, with long brown hair clipped to the back of her head, she is a first-time teacher at Foothill Elementary School, teaching a fourth-grade class. In college, she put aside notions of being a business major and a restaurateur after she found working on her friends' classroom lesson plans fed her appetite.

After attending San Diego State University, Kurtz-Fenster returned to her roots in Saratoga to teach. She is the product of Argonaut and Oak Street (now Saratoga) elementary schools, Redwood Middle and Saratoga High schools. So far, the first two weeks at Foothill have treated her just fine.

"I have a good class," she said. "It's nice to be put in a school where things run smoothly. I played softball here when I was little, but the school itself is much bigger now."

Kurtz-Fenster is one of four first-time teachers this year in the Saratoga Union School district. The other newbies are Amber Olsen, an eighth-grade math teacher at Redwood; Suzanna Ross, a sixth-grade math and science teacher at Redwood; and Sheila Chako, a second-grade teacher at Argonaut. Like Kurtz-Fenster, Chako is also a graduate of Saratoga schools.

"It says a lot when you grow up in the community, and you feel you want to give to the community when you come back," said Kristi Schwiebert, the mentor teacher for Kurtz-Fenster and Chako.

Kurtz-Fenster said she can trace her love of school to two influential teachers, local resident Betty Peck, her teacher at Argonaut, and Bobbi Huebert, who just retired from Saratoga Elementary this past June.

"They made school so exciting," Kurtz-Fenster said. "They created magical experiences."

She may be a newly minted teacher, but what she lacks in experience she makes up in confidence, enthusiasm and hard work. She recalled how the night before the first day of school, she visualized the 28 students in her classroom and thought about what she would say to them.

"You're scared and excited," she said. "There's so much emotion. There's so much you want to do."

On that first day of class, Kurtz-Fenster introduced herself and got her students, many of them looking small and scared, to play games to know each other. For the teacher, wired with adrenaline and caffeine, the first day turned out to be perfect.

"I can't believe it's over," she said. "It went by so quickly. I had a good time."

Parents who are nervous about leaving their child in the hands of a first-time teacher shouldn't be, she said.

"I'm confident that what I'm doing is working," she said. "I think that shows."

She already has a fan in her principal, Nancy Ondrejka.

"I'd love for parents to recognize that even if she came from Mars, we're still very selective in our selection. Her abilities just speak for themselves," Ondrejka said.

However, Kurtz-Fenster recognizes she still needs to grow in certain areas, including time management, she said. During the first week of school, her car was usually the last one to leave the staff parking lot. At 8 p.m., well after her students had eaten their dinner, Kurtz-Fenster was still at school, preparing lessons, photocopying and making sure that everything was just right for the next day. It's the payoff that keeps her going, she said.

"Teachers can tell when students are getting it," Kurtz-Fenster said. "It's exciting. It makes those late hours worth it."

But she doesn't have to go at it alone. The other fourth-grade teachers have been helpful in providing support, as has Schwiebert, her mentor teacher. In addition, she and the other first- and second- year teachers will meet regularly as a group with their mentors to ensure they are familiar with state-mandated standards for educators.

"It's an awesome responsibility to educate children," Schwiebert said. "[There is] anxiety that comes with that, making sure you have a warm and safe environment where all students can learn."

Kurtz-Fenster is eagerly awaiting what the school year will bring her, and she has discovered that, even though she's a rookie, the classroom is where she belongs. Even without the long, silver hair.