Teachers have stressful jobs. Managing lessons, grading, and teaching lessons all roll together into a tough gig. Making friends with each other can help teachers beat these stressors, similar to students having friend groups for support.
Leah Drennan and Kaitlin Mueller have this. While co-teaching chemistry for the past four years, Drennan and Mueller have built a relationship that works well in the classroom.
“It is similar to a marriage,” Mueller said. “If you are not communicating with each other, it is going to come to a head, and you guys are going to be arguing and fighting about stuff. So Drennan and I work really well together. We have been together for four years, so we kinda know how we each work.”
“Co-teaching has been a lot of fun,” Drennan said. “She’s learned a lot of chemistry from me, so now a lot of the time the kids can’t even tell who is the chemistry teacher.”
This relationship is evident in viewing. Drennan and Mueller feed off each other’s vibe, and that vibe translates into the class. Because they are a duo, they can be more effective in the classroom, making things more engaging and fun for everyone involved.
“We bully each other a lot, but in a good way,” Drennan said.
Ribbing on each other makes the class feel less formal, and brings a sense of togetherness that a lot of classes do not get to have. The team of Drennan and Mueller are not just droning on with monotone voices and tired drawls. They are engaging, in no small part because they have that rapport with one another.
“When I struggled with a problem or if I was doing an experiment, they were always there to help out and give criticism to what you would need to work on or fix,” student Bella Belluomini said. “Drennan is also a great person to talk to if you’re in a mood, she totally understands.”
Drennan and Mueller represent what is great about high school. They represent the new relationships that can form, and that those relationships are not subject to just students. Teachers make friends and meet new people, and in the best of cases, those friendships are more than just a familiar face around work.
