Carolyn Castagna is a freshman and sophomore English Teacher who moves the heart of many students. Castagna works with many students helping them to grow, while becoming strong readers and writers. Helping them get ready for 11th and 12th grade, bringing their new and improved writing skills with them.
Castagna has worked at Baruch for 13 years. During this time, she went on child care leave, took a little break and then came back. It’s been nine years since that break. Castagna has expressed her love for her job at Baruch highlighting that she has many favorite parts such as the children and content she gets to teach.
“I also love that I get to teach books that I want to teach, that I don’t have to teach certain books. There are many reasons why I love working here,” she said.
But how did Castagna get here, how did she find Baruch? What brought her to teaching, and what keeps her going?
Castagna taught middle school for six years before coming to Baruch; she wanted to work with older kids and work on harder text. She applied for a job at Baruch, where she enjoyed the environment and the teachers.
“I applied for a job here and I met some of the other teachers and I knew right away that this is where I wanted to be, and it really has been a place where people collaborate, share ideas and are excited to teach. So, it was a good move,” Castagna said.
Castagna has worked at Baruch for a long time and taught many different books throughout the year to different grades. From the books she has taught, Castagna shares what she would recommend reading.
“If I had to pick books that I teach, ‘clap when you land’ was always a favorite. ‘Aristotle and Dante’ has also been a favorite for the looks of different personalities. A non-fiction one ‘Just Mercy,’” she said.
Each year Castagna teaches new and different books for the kids to get into. Castagna also thinks about the student’s personality or interests when trying to help that student get into reading.
“Yea, for sure. I feel like every year even if it’s a book I’ve been teaching for a long time. I try new things, new lessons or new assignments and group activities. And then every year I do one new unit. This year in 9th grade and 10th grade this is my first year teaching ‘Butterfly yellow’ and ‘Lord of the flies,’” she said.
Castagna works with the same students at least twice. Learning who they are as a person, pushing them to keep going and learning their writing style, helping them when needed. However, does Castagna believe she inspires all her kids in reading and writing categories?
“I don’t know if I inspire all of them, but I do try to help every kid find at least one text that they like. Even if it’s a novel, a poem or a short story. And you know, just help them connect with reading. Even if they come up to me and say they hate to read. I just want them to have at least one positive experience reading,” Castagna said.
In the past Castagna taught grades 9 and 12, but times changed.
“I really like teaching 9th grade. I feel like the first year of high school is super exciting and that’s where my daughter is right now so I see how exciting 9th grade can be. I also really enjoy teaching 12th grade which I haven’t done in a very long time but when I did teach it. I really liked doing higher level texts and helping kids with their college essays,” Castagna said.
No matter what grade she teaches, she is able to enjoy her experience as a teacher with events such as the monologue performances.
“The kids make me laugh; they can be silly, sometimes really serious. Sometimes they surprise me. [Their performances] were so good, they were listening to each other and being really respectful and all their hard work pay off. It made me really happy,” Castagna said.
Castagna has expressed that one of the other things motivating her as a teacher is when her students make progress.
“Another thing that really keeps me going and makes me happy is when I see kids making progress. Like when they wrote an essay and I gave them feedback and in their next essay they use that feedback and make their writing stronger,” Castagna said.
