by Mya Wilcher/Staff Writer
Photo Caption: Mrs. Rosing helps Lauren Blasko, 9, with an essay on her iPad. Photo by Mya Wilcher
Mrs. Laken Rosing has been learning even more about time management than she already knew as the days go by. She is an English teacher and a coach for the high school’s cheerleading team as well as an expectant mom of twins. Learning to juggle her home life, her school life, and her pregnancy has proven to be a new challenge.
Rosing went to school in Kentucky and found a love for teaching. Carah Brown, 9, is one of her students. Brown said, “I think others could learn simple kindness from Mrs. Rosing.” Brown said that being in Rosing’s class is very good and will be very useful in future years. Brown also said, “One thing that I love about her class is that she always makes me personally feel welcome and that I actually belong in her class.”
Another one of Rosing’s students, Anna Kunkel, 9, has a very good relationship with her. Kunkel said that Rosing uses her time well and teaches or lets the students work for the class period. “She has her classes well organized with a structured agenda.” Students have had many writing assignments throughout the school year in her class and have grown as writers said Kunkel. Her students have learned how to write good essays and manage their work.
Kunkel said, “Students can learn from her not only English, but how to keep your thoughts and work organized. She helps kids learn how to be more productive and manage their time well.” Rosing’s class has plenty of material and assignments to keep students on their feet. Kunkel said that if students were to not do their work, their grade would certainly show it. Kunkel also said, “I love how she doesn’t baby us. She talks to us as adults, and in the last few minutes of class we can almost always have a polite conversation about anything. She can go from talking about how stupid Romeo and Juliet are, to having a debate with us over what Disney princesses are original and which ones aren’t.”
Rosing said that her first year of teaching was very different, because she didn’t teach at Greenfield; it was in Louisville, Kentucky. The school was much larger, the demographics were different, and they also had seven classes a day unlike the four classes at GC. In general her first year was more stressful. Teaching is something that one must know they want to truly put themselves into, she said. Rosing said, “I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I graduated high school. I knew that I always wanted to work with people and provide a service for people. I love writing and English and that just made the most sense to me. I also really liked reading at a young age.”
Teaching also comes with struggles as anything else does. Rosing said that one thing she has found to be challenging is balancing boundaries. It’s taken her some time to learn when she can say no to things as she likes to try to do it all. And now that she is married and is expecting children, it’s something that she has learned that needs boundaries for personal life too and to make sure everything is distributed, she said.
One very bright side of a teacher’s career is the memories and connections with students. Rosing said, “One thing that I really love is when I get an email from a student who is in college telling me that they have good grades and thanking me, when they’re able to reflect on the class.”
She also recalled, “One year I came in and my students had thrown me a surprise birthday party. It was a great personal memory and my students were very thoughtful.”
Some students come into the class excelling in English and more, said Rosing. So she tries to push them even further with their skills. This can sometimes be a challenge for her as well as the student as she has to find new ways to help that student grow from their previous knowledge.
Since Rosing is expecting children, there have been some extra challenges that she has had to navigate. When she goes home, she has to decide whether to grade some assignments, or go relax and she has to make decisions based on what is better for the babies. “I’ve just given myself schedules. On one day, I’ll grade this many things, and on this day I’ll grade this many things. As long as I meet those schedules, then I haven’t met any situations where I felt like I stayed up too late.”
All of this and more had led Rosing to where she is now. Through all the successes and struggles she has continued to thrive and juggle her home life with her school life. Using time management and schedules as she stated has aided her in this process.