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Speaker 1: Kimberly Burton-Regulski graduated from Towson University in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics with a secondary education concentration. Miss Burton-Regulski has taught and currently serves as mathematics department chair at Eastern Technical High School in Baltimore County, Maryland. These are her reflections. Karen Blair: Miss Burton-Regulski, thank you so much for coming in and taking some of your precious Saturday time to talk to us about your preparation to become a teacher and your subsequent career. This will add mightily to our understanding of the evolution of teacher education at Towson across time. Karen Blair: And we always start at the beginning, and the beginning means would you share with us a little bit about your early social context, where you grew up, Karen Blair: what you were thinking about as a child as you moved into high school in terms of a possible career?

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: OK. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I grew up in Parkville, so I went through Baltimore County Public school system and I started at Oakley Elementary. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And when I was probably about seven, I remember wanting to be a teacher. I had really wonderful 1st and 2nd grade teachers that I really looked up to, and I remember it was picture day in second grade and you had to pick what career you wanted to be. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And I wanted to be a teacher and I got to hold the teacher’s edition of the math book, and I thought that that was great, you know, at age 7. So that's kind of where it started. And then as I went through in middle school, I had a really great math teacher.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Her name was Lynn Hilditch, and she always made us feel like we were so smart. She would say that we were doing problems, that her daughter was doing in college, you know? And so in 8th grade, when you're doing something like that, it made you feel really great. And I always wanted to be like her. So. And then that kind of followed through high school. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I actually kind of debated between math and art. I had an interest in both, and I was going to be a teacher either way, it was kind of which one to choose. So I went with math, which I'm happy I did. And then that kind of brought me to Towson. Karen Blair: Now, why Towson? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Probably because it was close to home. I really didn't want to go away, and my family wanted me to stay. I was very close with my grandparents and my mom, and then I got a full scholarship here.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So that kind of gave me a good reason to choose Towson. Karen Blair: And that suggests that you did well in high school to get that full scholarship. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I knew that I was going to need to have some kind of scholarship or something. So I worked very hard throughout high school. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And it paid off. So, yeah, it did.

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Karen Blair: So tell us a little bit about your experience here. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: At Towson, I love Towson. I loved all my math courses, and then because I was a math major with a secondary ed concentration, I had my education classes and then my math classes. So I really enjoyed it. Mike Krach was my advisor. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: He really encouraged me as I went through. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And I had some great teachers along the way, especially in the math department and Doctor Hanson, who I still keep in touch with, was my calculus teacher, and they just… I really enjoyed it here. It was a great atmosphere and I think it prepared me for teaching.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Especially going through the student teaching process. Karen Blair: Now, do you remember before you actually did your student teaching internships, Karen Blair: do you remember having been in schools at all? Did you get to observe or… Kimberly Burton-Regulski: We, that's the one thing that when I was here, we didn't do a lot of. I remember going out for a special ed class, we went back to my high school and observed a couple of classes but I didn't really get out there until my student teaching.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So that's the only thing that I'm glad has changed, because we have, at my school, we have the PDS program where students come in in the fall and get to do a little bit of teaching and observing prior to student teaching, which I think is great. I wish I would have had that piece of it. Karen Blair: Yes, absolutely. So that says, whoa. Karen Blair: And that's probably your last semester or close to last semester that you're going to go out and almost be the teacher of record in some math classes. Karen Blair: That's a little scary.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: It is. Karen Blair: And where did you do your student teaching? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Cockeysville Middle and Patapsco High School. Cockeysville Middle I had a great cooperating teacher. Her name was Linda Roth, and she was so warm and just helpful and encouraging and I really enjoyed it. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I did, though, want to teach high school. That was my goal. Yeah. I liked the middle school, but I definitely wanted to do the upper level math in high school, and my Patapsco experience was a weird mix. I had a consumer math class and an AP calculus class for student teaching,

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So it was a challenge, but, you know, it prepared me. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: You know, got into teaching at Eastern Tech, and I've taught a little bit of everything there. Karen Blair: Tell me a little bit about consumer math. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Yeah, it's it was a course that was basically, you know, learning to balance a budget and, you know, keeping a checkbook and practical math. And it was kind of a good thing for students that weren't necessarily going to be math majors or anything like that. But unfortunately, that that course doesn't exist anymore, at least in Baltimore County.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Most students are taking an algebra-based kind of course, so those courses have gone away. Karen Blair: Well, maybe it's something they should consider at a lower grade level, because I think one of the complaints in society in general now is the lack of financial literacy. Karen Blair: People understanding just the kinds of things you were you were trying to teach. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Right. And I think that there is a piece of that that they've kind of incorporated here and there, but it's definitely not in the high school at all.

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Karen Blair: So you're at the end of your career here and you're looking for employment. Fortunately, you're in the field of mathematics, which means that there are usually people sort of courting you for a position. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Right. I ended up at Eastern Technical High School and it was- At first I was kind of not sure about it because it was a… Kimberly Burton-Regulski: It used to be called Eastern Votech, so it was more of a vocational school, so I wasn't quite sure. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I wanted to teach upper level math, you know.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I was leery, but then I thought, no, I'm going to go there and it has really paid off because in the 15 or 16 years that I've been there, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: it's transformed itself from a vocational school to now a technical school where most of our students are going to college. So we have a really strong math foundation of classes where our students are getting to AP Calc Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and AP statistics, and it's really an academic environment where the kids get to do career major classes. So they get an introduction to things like engineering and IT and allied health. And so it's really the best of both worlds for them, and for us too. It's a great place to work. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I wouldn't want to teach anywhere else, to be honest.

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Karen Blair: Well, isn't that wonderful that that turned out to be a growing kind of experience for both you and for the school. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Yeah, it's been amazing to just watch and be part of that because as a department chairman, when I moved into that position, I really got to be part of the leadership team and start to make decisions and do things that kind of molded the school into what it is now. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I feel like I've contributed to something beyond just teaching my classes, that I’ve helped build a school into something great. Karen Blair: Wow. So when you got there for your first year, just to sort of reminisce a little bit about your early beginnings there…

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Yeah, it wasn't what it is now. Karen Blair: So what was your teaching load like then? Kimberly Burton-Regulski,: I was teaching something called Algebraic Topics in Trig, which was a standard level course for, like, juniors and seniors, and then I was teaching an honors college algebra. And no one else in the department was really teaching the trig course that I was teaching. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And I was in a classroom that was kind of at the corner of the building.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I didn't have much support, so it was kind of like sink or swim and you kind of, you know, learn how to find your way. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I kind of did that for my first year, and then our assistant principal kind of paired me up with a teacher, and she really just encouraged me and kind of worked with me some, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: but I pretty much, after the first year of kind of finding your way, I was pretty solid of what I needed to do, but she was kind of there just to have a friend, I guess, in the building. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And then kind of it moved on from there, but it was a real learning experience, but I think that's for anyone that just had student teaching and then you come right in.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Because you're learning it all. Karen Blair: Right. And all at the same time. I mean, this is, every lesson plan’s a new lesson plan and… Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Right. Yeah. So then when I became chairman, I made sure that I always gave support to our new teachers, because I didn't want them to be in the boat that I was. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So it's important.

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Karen Blair: And how long did you teach there before they made you math chair? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Trying to think now. Maybe six or seven years. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I was chair by then. Karen Blair: So, and what kinds of responsibilities did you take on in that position?

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: A little bit of everything, I think. I mean, I've observed teachers, my department's really great at coming to me to talk about their lessons and what they're going to be doing for observation. So we have a pretty good relationship of talking about instruction. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So that piece with the observation process, and then I'm part of the leadership team, so I kind of… Karen Blair: And who does that include? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Our assistant principals and all the department chairmen, and then key teachers that want to become leaders are on the team also. So we get to do different school initiatives and then, for example, we have a lot of Common Core training that we're getting from Baltimore County,

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: it's kind of scripted, so I've kind of taken it and adapted it for our faculty. So I kind of do some things like that, professional development kind of things for the faculty too. Karen Blair: Can you elaborate a little bit more about Common Core? Karen Blair: This is something certainly that is front and center for everybody in public education, certainly in the state of Maryland and in most states. But how has your faculty responded to that? It seems to me there's something related to themes of teaching. Karen Blair: And I imagine it's different at the high school level than it is at elementary or middle school, but…

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Our principal is pretty much… He always likes to keep us kind of ahead of the game, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: which I think is important, because that makes our school pretty strong. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So we've been talking about Common Core and the new evaluation system and everything for a while, much longer than I think most schools have been out there. So we've kind of gotten a handle on it. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: We know that we're kind of waiting till all the curriculum changes, especially in mathematics. Right now, we switched the order of our courses. We used to do an algebra 1, algebra 2, geometry. Now we've switched to algebra 1, geometry, algebra 2. So we're kind of dealing with that change, and then they're rewriting curriculum for algebra 1 and algebra 2.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So we're kind of in a waiting game for curriculum, but we've all seen the standards and worked with them, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and every school, I think, in the state has sent a team to go to educator effectiveness training. That's what they call it, which is all Common Core training. So I was part of that. So you take that training and come back to your school and train, you know, the teachers. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I think we're pretty, you know, educated on what the Common Core is. I think it's going to change a lot once we figure out what the PARCC exam is going to be like, and that's the big mystery right now. We're waiting to see all the PARCC released items come out. We've seen a few, but not enough to really get a handle on what the test is going to be. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So until we see that, you know, we're doing our best to meet what Common Core is, but we don't know what the assessment is going to be like. So once we figure out the assessment, then we can really move forward. But I think it will be a change. It will be a challenge for our students, from what they've told us about PARCC.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: We're going to have to have the students to be a little bit more independent problem solvers, so that's going to be a different change. Karen Blair: Certainly is. Do you know who's involved in the creation of the PARCC assessment? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I mean, I know PARCC is a team that they've basically paid to write PARCC. I know they have some teachers involved in it, but I don't know the details of the actual… Karen Blair: I see.

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Karen Blair: I just wondered if that, I mean, this is one of the things that I noticed in your resume is that you have been a wonderfully strong teacher and administrator in math, Karen Blair: and you have won a number of awards which I would like you to talk about if you would, but I would think that those kinds of educators would be the kinds of people that we would want to be involved in the creation of the assessment for our students. Karen Blair: I just wondered if that was something that you had been invited to be part of. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Right. I haven't been invited to write anything for the park. I did get an e-mail asking if I was would review PARCC items, but I haven't…

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: That was just, like, yesterday that I got the e-mail. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So no, I haven't gotten anything with writing the items, but I would love to have had the chance. Karen Blair: Well, maybe there'll be an opportunity for review or something once this is all put in place. And I would hope that we would have our finest teachers reviewing things, Karen Blair: and certainly somebody with the caliber and the length of your service as a math educator, certainly.

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Karen Blair: So tell us a little bit about some of the recognition you have garnered as a teacher. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: The first award that I won was the Maryland Council of Teacher of Mathematics award. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I had done basically a write up of my teaching and then they came out and observed a lesson. Actually, Doctor Krach, who was my advisor here, was part of MCTM at the time. He was the one that observed my lesson, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and rated it, and then he took it back to a team and they looked at my resume and everything and I won the award. So that was a great opportunity. That was the beginning of some of the things that I got to do.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And then, several years later, I applied for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, and I won the award. And I was very surprised and very happy because I got to go to the White House and meet President Obama. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: It was really exciting. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I got to go to DC for a week. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Yeah. And it was around Christmas time, so it was beautiful. It was really a dream trip.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: But I got to interact with teachers from all around the country and learn about different initiatives. The National Science Foundation is the group that actually runs the awards. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So we got to go to various meetings about math and science and STEM, those kinds of things. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And then we toured the White House and got our picture taken with President Obama. And with Arnie Duncan. It was exciting. Karen Blair: Absolutely. That's wonderful. And I'm sure well deserved.

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Karen Blair: That leads me to your thoughts about what are the characteristics, what are the elements that make for a good math teacher, or a good teacher? Karen Blair: What do you regard as sort of what you should know, be able to do, approach, how you approach students. All of those things. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Well, I think for me it's always been that, I've always felt like you should be a learner yourself. Like a lifelong learner. Like, every day I go in and think about my lessons and how I can improve them and what I can learn. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I go to a lot of conferences and workshops, and work with a lot of teachers, and collaborate a lot because I think it's important to keep growing and improving as you go through the years of teaching,

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: not to become stagnant just because you know how to teach a subject. Every group of students is different, so you've got to really look at the content that you're teaching, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and adapt it, so you really have to be able to adapt and be flexible. I think those are things, especially now with all the changes, I think flexibility is really a key because you have to really, you know, be ready for the next change, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and just kind of be ready to adapt and keep moving forward that way. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and I really think it's just also an underlying commitment to the students that, you know, you have a love for your subject and not every student has that same love. So you have to try to bring that in and really kind of meet their needs.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: You know, not every student is a mathematician, so… I’ve taught a wide variety of students in a wide variety of courses, and I always think of, you know, what do they need to learn? You know, is there a certain way that it needs to be explained, to tie something into something that they can relate to. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I think that, you know… Hard work. Teaching is a hard job. It's not easy. So I think you have to be dedicated. Karen Blair: Well, let's talk about the flip side of that. All this hard work, what are the rewards in being a teacher, or at least for you? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Right, I think… The other day, in my calculus class, one of my students, she just got something, was so excited and she comes up and she's like, high five, Miss Burton! And you know, it seems like a little thing, but it was a big thing to her at that moment.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And to get to do that every day, I think is, you know, it's a great thing. That's the reward. And then I often have students come back and, you know, tell me how they're doing. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And I teach computer science, and I had one student who struggled through computer science the whole year, but he managed to make it through, and the next year he came back and he said, wow, my computer science course in college was so easy. I didn't think it was going to be. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So those moments where they come back show that it really paid off, your relationship with them and what you taught them, I think is worth it. Karen Blair: Tell me a little bit about the technology. I would certainly think, in relationship to math, that's been probably a major change.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Yeah, I mean, we use the graphing calculator as probably the key tool that we teach the students and we use pretty much on a regular basis. And then I try to incorporate technology in when I can. We have smart boards. We're very fortunate, we have laptops and document cameras in every classroom. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So those are really great to show student work at the board. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And then the smart boards too. And we also have those, they have different names, but the clickers where the student… The student response systems. So I try to incorporate them when I can. Karen Blair: Right.

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Karen Blair: Now, is that part of your being a magnet school, or is this something that is typical throughout Baltimore County? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I think it's partially because we're a magnet. We may get a little bit more funding, like for example, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I went to the NCTM conference and I saw this robotics kit. It's very, very cool. It has a robot that flies and it has built in math lessons. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: They're designed for lessons in algebra one and geometry. Yeah. So because we're a magnet, and Mr. Evans really wants us to have the technology that's out there and to be current because we are a technical school.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So as a principal, he wants us to be, you know, cutting edge. So we were able to get that kit and we have robots now that, you know, we can teach math with. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So it’s pretty amazing. Karen Blair: That is pretty amazing. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I am thankful that I'm at a magnet school for that.

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Karen Blair: Yes. I want to know about the robots that fly. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Yeah, it’s basically just like a little helicopter thing that flies up and down, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and you can direct it with a tablet, and as you're directing it with a tablet, it's collecting data on the height of the robot in the air, over time. And then you can show that the students, the graph of the robot’s flight, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and then you can talk about the data from there, and it kind of is an opening to a lesson. So it's really engaging that way, yeah.

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Karen Blair: It certainly is. Karen Blair: So, out of that would grow something on a variety of topics. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Right. And there are several in this kit. There are like four or five different robots Kimberly Burton-Regulski: that are designed for different types of mathematics, so it's pretty cool. We were kind of as a math department, you know, wanting to play too. You know, we're just as excited as the kids.

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Karen Blair: Of course. Absolutely. Karen Blair: So you actually have tried these out now? This is something that you're using with some regularity? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Well, we just got them. So we're really, as a department, have been playing, and so they'll be in the classroom soon. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: The kids have seen that we have them, and saw us playing with them in the hallway, so they're definitely… We'll definitely be using them.

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Karen Blair: Sure. Well, I'm sure they're eager to get their hands on them and do things with them. That's great. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Yeah, and it ties in well with our engineering program too, because they do some robotics things in there. Karen Blair: I see. And what's- And could you tell me a little bit about that program? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Yeah, it's one of our career majors. They do a lot of hands on type projects, they build trebuchets and robots,

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and then they have the engineering design side of it, where they learn CAD and different things that are related to math. So they do some math in there also. So it's a great program for them too. Karen Blair: It sounds like it. And where would they take that next. I mean is that… Kimberly Burton-Regulski: They're introduced to a bunch of different fields in engineering, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: so as soon as they leave on to college, a lot of them already have an idea of which field they want to go into, and they'll go and do that type of engineering. We have a really great set of engineering teachers that really get them prepared.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: They give them the whole portfolio of things that they've done throughout, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and some of the colleges have looked at the portfolio and have given them some college credits because of the work they've done in high school. Karen Blair: How wonderful. That's great. It is amazing. So you probably then have a fairly high percentage of students that go on to college. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: We still have some students that go right into work because we have other career majors, like we have construction and auto mechanics, culinary. So that's, yes, that's a nice plus. We have the Eastern Inn at our school. So we can have lunch. The kids make very nice lunches.

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Karen Blair: Uh-huh. Interesting. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So they have different experiences, so some go on to work, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and we have some students that go on to the military, and then a lot of them are really college bound, and they're really prepared, I think, to go on to college. Karen Blair: That's wonderful. Well, I suppose there certainly are math applications, even in the culinary program, one does need to know how to measure, after all.

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Karen Blair: So that's great. Could you tell me a little bit about your involvement in professional organizations? You had mentioned this a little bit earlier. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: In terms of, like, MCTM? I've been a member of MCTM and I've… Kimberly Burton-Regulski: The conference, we actually had at our school, so I volunteered to co-chair with another teacher bringing in the MCTM Conference. The yearly, you know, conference for Maryland teachers. So we had that at our school. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: That was a nice experience, to bring people in for that.

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Karen Blair: Well, and I think it's a nice location for them to be in, because it sounds like it's a pretty special school, absolutely. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I've done things like that. Outside of, I guess, the state, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I applied last year to there's this company called LearnZillion. They're trying to make online video lessons that are related to the Common Core standards. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I was chosen- There were, I think, 200 or 300 teachers chosen, from across the country, to basically write these lessons. You were assigned a certain standard, and then you had to write a lesson, and we were given a trip to San Francisco.

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Karen Blair: Very nice. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And we basically did professional development there. We did get to go to San Francisco one night, but we really were working pretty much every day that we I was there, learning about the Common Core standards and looking at our standards, and we were working on individual lessons, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: but you were grouped with other teachers to talk about them, and then you were paired with a coach that you would work on your lessons and the coach would look at it and give you feedback, and then you would eventually videotape your lessons and then they're working now and getting those to be online. So that was an interesting professional development experience well. Karen Blair: Helpful for the end product too. I mean, it just didn't make you a better teacher or richer teacher.

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Karen Blair: It helped the field considerably. Karen Blair: Have you been encouraged at all… Well, you are the department chair still. Has anybody pushed you at all in terms of looking at other administrative kinds of responsibilities? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: We had our assistant principal, now she's the principal of Towson High, her name is Charlene DiMino. When she was our AP, she always encouraged me. You should go take the classes. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And I had started to take them and then got busy with life,

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and then I finally recently have finished them. So I have my administrator one certificate. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I could then apply to get into the pool to be an AP. My principal, who… He's encouraging me. He's put my name into, like, our area Superintendent for high schools. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: He encourages me, but he really doesn't want me to go. So it's kind of two sided. He would love for me to stay at Eastern as chairman as long as he's there. But he is encouraging me. He's encouraged me to present at the AP conference. I've presented two years in a row. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So he’s, you know, encouraged me to do that and then he's asked me to present at a STEM Conference in the spring.

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: because he's chairing some committee in that. So he's going to get me to present there. So he is encouraging me to be a leader, but I know he doesn't really want me to leave as chairman. Karen Blair: I'm sure he doesn't. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And part of me doesn't want to leave either because I really do love the school and I've seen it grow. So it's hard to leave something that’s almost like your child. You don't want to leave it. And I love it there. So I kind of want to grow, but I don't want to leave either. I'm torn. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So I’m kind of in that place.

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Karen Blair: Well, and it's not a decision you have to make today. Karen Blair: So you have time to do that. Karen Blair: Has the mathematics department here invited you to do any adjunct teaching for us or… Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Doctor Krach has mentioned it because I've told him that, you know, I would like in the future to have some opportunities, and I don't know if…

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Kimberly Burton-Regulski: At one point I wanted to work in the Baltimore County Math Office, and they've pretty much hired several new people over the last few years, so I don't think that there will be an opening there. So I'm looking for other opportunities. So I had talked to Doctor Krach the other day. He's like, you could do, you know, some teaching at Towson. Karen Blair: Student teachers? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Right. And then there's also a program here, the UTeach program, who one of my teachers who, she was our AP calculus teacher, who I didn't want to leave, came to Towson. And she's teaching in the program now. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: The UTeach program and she called me the other day.

00:31:55.000 - 00:32:17.000

Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Why don't you come and be my partner? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: She would love for me to be here, but… Karen Blair: Well, it's a big program. It's a very important program, I understand. I don't know all the ins and outs or details of it, Karen Blair: but I think it really is, number one, a recognition that we are…

00:32:17.000 - 00:33:28.000

Karen Blair: We train an insufficient number of people to go into the to the STEM fields as teachers, and there is some money associated with it too. I think it would certainly be wonderful to have your input onto the program Karen Blair: and I hope that your former colleague is sort of picking your brain somewhat regularly about things they're doing, Karen Blair: and how they might do them differently. So that would be great. And I'm sure Towson would love to steal you away. It's, you know, when we're doing these things, we really are looking for people who are the best at what they do. Karen Blair: And that would include our award-winning math teachers. So that's interesting. What else should we talk about in terms of your career? I'm sort of looking over the questions and thinking, what have I forgotten here?

00:33:28.000 - 00:33:58.000

Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I mean, as a department chairman, I think I also get a great opportunity to work with young teachers. I have several new teachers in my department and I really get to mentor them. And that's the part I like being Chairman. Chairman is a demanding job. Karen Blair: I'm sure. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And the one part that I always regret that I don't get to do enough of is get out into the classrooms and work with them, you know, weekly regularly because you get so busy with other things. Karen Blair: Of course.

00:33:58.000 - 00:34:51.000

Kimberly Burton-Regulski: My new teachers, I feel like are solid and I really get a chance to work with them when they have observations, and they really feel comfortable coming to me with questions, which makes me very proud that they feel that comfort. Actually, I'm especially proud of one of our younger teachers. She wants to teach AP calculus eventually. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And I'm teaching it this year and she said, well, can you get my free period to be when your class is, and she takes the class with us every day as a student. So she's in there every day with the students, Karen Blair: How wonderful. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: taking the tests and doing the drills and doing the problems and working with them as if she is a student. And it's wonderful because she really is getting experience of what the course is like, and she is learning the demands of teaching something that's AP. So it's been a really fun year having her in the class.

00:34:51.000 - 00:35:28.000

Karen Blair: And how did the students respond to her as a student? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: They like it a lot. It was really funny the first week or two, because she looks so young and some of them don't know her. One boy at parent night, his mom was like, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: He came home and told me that he didn't realize for like two weeks that she was a teacher. So he had just been working with her like she was another student, and they really have a good relationship. They work right there with her and they tease her and joke with her too. Did you get that one wrong? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And she'll tease right back with them. It's really great.

00:35:28.000 - 00:35:47.000

Kimberly Burton-Regulski: It's a good experience for them both. Karen Blair: Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think that students should know that teachers are lifelong learners, too. And you may know the content area, but there are other things to learn as well. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Right. Karen Blair: So maybe it'll inspire some of them to consider the field of teaching. Who knows?

00:35:47.000 - 00:36:12.000

Kimberly Burton-Regulski: That's the other thing, that Eastern has a teaching program. Most of the students I think are doing elementary or middle, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: But hey get to go out to classrooms in high school and visit and help teachers. So I think that's really a cool thing. Karen Blair: It is. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: So it's a new program in the last few years they've added, it's called the Teacher Academy program, so it’s exciting.

00:36:12.000 - 00:36:40.000

Karen Blair: And so these are actually the high school students. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Right. They're learning all about teaching. They're taking courses that are pretty much like a foundations education course that you would take at Towson, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and they learn all of that and then they get to do an internship in their senior year, I believe, where they go out to classes in the afternoon and work with kids and teachers. Karen Blair: And do you know if they get any academic credit for that towards…

00:36:40.000 - 00:36:59.000

Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Yeah, I'm not sure what they do with that, because it is new and I don't know the details. Karen Blair: Right, right. Karen Blair: That's interesting as well. Anything else you can think of? Kimberly Burton-Regulski: No, you know, it's…

00:36:59.000 - 00:37:39.000

Kimberly Burton-Regulski: You know, teaching pretty much is my life, so I always say that Eastern Tech is like my second home. Karen Blair: I'm sure. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I mean the only thing I guess I should mention is I couldn't have done it without the support of my husband and my family. He's been in there grading papers and doing things all along the way. So, you know, it's definitely great to have family support at home. Karen Blair: Truly. Our last question always is what advice, what wisdom would you share with individuals who might be considering a career in teaching?

00:37:39.000 - 00:38:37.000

Kimberly Burton-Regulski: I think, like I mentioned before, that you've got to go into it, that you've got to keep learning throughout, and that you have to realize that there are going to be tough days and things, lessons may not work out the first time, and you just have to learn to adapt and try again and pick up and move forward every day. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And that it's going to be a lot of work, but it's worth it. You've got to balance out that, you know, the success of your students is worth all the time that you put into it. I think those are the main things. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: And then I would say, initially, when you first start teaching is you need to find a support system, make friends with other teachers, collaborate, be open to collaborating with other teachers, sharing things, because it makes life a lot easier when you have someone to work with, Kimberly Burton-Regulski: and you can and share and compare and reflect on your lessons with somebody else, not just yourself. So I think that's key too.

00:38:37.000 - 00:39:48.000

Karen Blair: Well, that's something that you would have liked to have had. Kimberly Burton-Regulski: Yeah. And I've made sure that since then I really do. And the teachers in my department really get that opportunity. Karen Blair: Which is wonderful. I mean, that was a learning experience for you, and you have made, you've built in that missing piece for other people. Which is very nice. Karen Blair: Well, thank you so much for coming in and talking with us this this will be a nice addition. Thank you.