A conversation with Student PSEA members at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Emily Jett and Amber Bloom. Emily is the Student PSEA president and Amber is vice president. They join PSEA President Aaron Chapin and Vice President Jeff Ney to discuss their experience as student teachers, their embrace of AI, and what impact they hope to make as educators.
A conversation with Student PSEA members at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Emily Jett and Amber Bloom. Emily is the Student PSEA president and Amber is vice president. They join PSEA President Aaron Chapin and Vice President Jeff Ney to discuss their experience as student teachers, their embrace of AI, and what impact they hope to make as educators.
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Learn more and watch for upcoming episodes at psea.org/podcast.
Voiceover (00:02):
Welcome to Duty Free Lunch, the official podcast of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Join us as we unpack the issues that matter most to you, from cutting edge classroom strategies to thought provoking policy discussions. If it impacts PSEA members, it's on the menu.
Aaron Chapin (00:25):
Hello and welcome to Duty Free Lunch. I'm PSEA President, Aaron Chapin, and I'm here today with PSEA Vice President, Jeff Ney. Hello, Jeff.
Jeff Ney (00:34):
Hey Aaron. How are we doing today?
Aaron Chapin (00:35):
I'm doing fantastic, as always. Jeff, people often ask me, and I think you hear the question as well when you're out with our members, people ask me, am I optimistic about the future of public education and PSEA? I always say yes, especially when I see our student members doing what they're doing and what they're bringing to our schools, I can't help but feel some great optimism. How do you feel about that?
Jeff Ney (00:58):
I couldn't agree more. All of the different things that we see going around there, the great lessons that we see some of our student members that are participating in a lot of the different activities in our schools, it's just outstanding.
Aaron Chapin (01:12):
Yeah. Here in Pennsylvania, we're extremely fortunate. And for that reason, I am super excited to have two guests with us today. Today we're going to be talking to a couple of our wonderful student PSEA members, Emily Jett and Amber Bloom. They're both students at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, and they're both union officers. Emily is the student PSEA president, and Amber is the vice president.
Jeff Ney (01:36):
Fantastic.
Aaron Chapin (01:36):
So welcome, Emily.
Emily Jett (01:39):
Hello.
Aaron Chapin (01:40):
That's right. And welcome to you Amber.
Amber Bloom (01:42):
Good morning.
Aaron Chapin (01:42):
It is great to have both of you on the podcast, but we got a lot of questions, so let's get things going. First thing, Emily, could you just tell all of our listeners a little bit about your background and what teaching track you've selected.
Emily Jett (01:58):
So I am a senior at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. I am a pre-K to four major, so elementary education. I started out as a chapter social chair in my freshman year and then my sophomore year I jumped into being region president, which then put me in the position to be able to run for president elect my junior year, which would mean that I would just shadow the current president and then I eventually would take her place over this year.
Aaron Chapin (02:32):
Excellent. What about you, Amber?
Amber Bloom (02:34):
Again, like Emily said, I am a senior at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg. My major is also early childhood education, so pre-K through four. I did pick up a minor in psychology as well. I have been the chapter president at our university for two years. I was the state secretary last year and then I decided to spend my last year as a state vice president to run it with Emily.
Jeff Ney (02:57):
Oh, that's fantastic. Psychology, that's wonderful.
Aaron Chapin (03:00):
Well, especially needed today. And reminds me, what were you doing back in your years of college?
Jeff Ney (03:06):
Nothing what these ladies are doing.
Aaron Chapin (03:08):
Oh my gosh.
Jeff Ney (03:09):
You guys are putting us to shame.
Aaron Chapin (03:10):
Very ambitious, very well appreciated.
Jeff Ney (03:13):
So Amber, usually when people go into education, there's usually like an aha moment, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Was there that moment for you or was there more of a process? Why education?
Amber Bloom (03:25):
So my mom is a sixth grade science and global studies teacher, so I always grew up going to her classroom and getting to spend the summers decorating her room, so I've kind of always grown up in a classroom. And then my second grade, I remember that my teacher's first name was Amber and she handed me a stamp that said Amber on it, and she told me to pass it on to my student one day. So that was the moment I kind of knew, okay. I grew up with a teacher and now I knew that that's what I was being called to do.
Jeff Ney (03:52):
Wow. Family business. Shout out to mom.
Aaron Chapin (03:53):
Exactly. All right.
Jeff Ney (03:56):
Em, how about you? Was there that aha moment or more of a process for you?
Emily Jett (04:00):
It was a little more of a process. I mean, I always loved school. I was the toddler who sat on the stairs pretending like I was on the school bus like my older sister and I would teach to my stuffed animals. And then in school, I never got enough homework, so I asked my dad to make me more homework and so I could teach it to my stuffed animals. And then I guess I got much older. I mean, well first, third grade, I had an amazing teacher. So when I eventually realized that I wanted to be teaching, I remembered back to her because I was horrible in math. And then eventually I scored one of the highest scores on the PSSAs in the state on math.
Aaron Chapin (04:36):
Wow.
Jeff Ney (04:38):
Yeah, we're outgunned here.
Aaron Chapin (04:39):
Wow.
Jeff Ney (04:39):
Pretty sure.
Emily Jett (04:39):
So then when I was in middle school, I started babysitting obviously, and I fell in love with just watching those kids and I would tutor them sometimes. It did start with my cousins and then it eventually became neighbors and then friends of friends. And then in high school, I was like, I kind of want to maybe pursue teaching because I love kids and I love school, and so I started teaching at a swim school before Covid and I was like, oh yeah, this is what I want to do.
Jeff Ney (05:09):
And what was the name of that third grade teacher that made an impact on you?
Emily Jett (05:12):
Mrs. Slinger.
Aaron Chapin (05:13):
All right.
Jeff Ney (05:14):
Shout out.
Aaron Chapin (05:14):
Thank you Mrs. Slinger. I love hearing the aha moments. I think they vary so much from person to person that's in the education field. I could have an entire episode just of listening to those stories. I think they're motivating and unique and it's a good reminder why we do what we do.
Jeff Ney (05:32):
Education is a calling more than anything else. I mean there's got to be something that drives you to it and everybody's got a different story. And you're right, I love to hear those stories as well.
Aaron Chapin (05:41):
So I've always been a firm believer in the value of having a good mentor. As I've mentioned to our members before back at the House of Delegates, I've had a wonderful cooperating teacher mentor when I was starting out back when I was at the Haverford Area School district, and I've had the opportunity as well to mentor about 20 different student teachers myself, always was welcoming them into my classroom. If we have any cooperating teachers listening to this podcast, and I'm sure we are, what advice would you give them and want them to know as far as having aspiring educators in their classroom? We'll start with you Emily.
Emily Jett (06:22):
I think there's a lot of cooperating teachers that don't take on student teachers because they're afraid that they don't know what they're doing themselves and how would they be able to teach another person to do what they're doing. But I would say take the leap, take the student teacher and you guys can learn together because the curriculum's always changing, so you're never going to fully know everything that you're doing, and I think it's good for the student teacher to also see that. I love seeing the curriculum changes in the school I'm in now and that I get to learn with my cooperating teacher all about this new curriculum.
Jeff Ney (06:58):
Take the leap. I like that.
Aaron Chapin (07:00):
Yeah. Amber, what did you think?
Amber Bloom (07:01):
So like Emily was saying about maybe the fear that the cooperating teachers have, we have that same fear going into your classroom. So we walk in and we're like, okay, we're not sure what we're supposed to do. We don't want to overstep. So the same way that Emily was saying take the leap, we are too. So we're both going through those changes and those fears together, but at the same time, maybe there were mistakes you made your first year or maybe there was something that your cooperating teacher didn't tell you that could make us better educators. So like Emily said, we're taking that leap, but we're all a little afraid and we're all going through these new challenges together, so if we embrace the challenges, then we can work better as an educator.
Aaron Chapin (07:40):
And it's a great thing to point out. I think there's so much we can learn from each other. We're always developing as educators, things that we're picking up, and I think when student teachers come into our classrooms, it's an opportunity for us to learn some new things.
Jeff Ney (07:55):
I enjoyed every one of the student teachers that I had in my career.
Aaron Chapin (07:58):
Every one of them?
Jeff Ney (07:59):
Every single one. They were outstanding and it was a great honor. At one of our House of Delegates, one of my former student teachers came up to me, was a rep for their building and came up and said hi. So that was absolutely fantastic.
Aaron Chapin (08:13):
I still have relationships with some of my student teachers. In fact, we have one that teaches in East Stroudsburg and she even nominated me for a recommendation up in the northeast when I was running for vice president, so...
Jeff Ney (08:25):
That's fantastic.
Aaron Chapin (08:26):
To see them still involved and actually doing union work really thrills me to death. I think these are good relationships that you can all create. I assume you have good relationship with your cooperating teacher right now?
Emily Jett (08:37):
Oh, absolutely. I love my cooperating teacher.
Aaron Chapin (08:40):
Who is that?
Emily Jett (08:41):
Her name's Ms. Jody Mackelnae.
Jeff Ney (08:42):
All right. Very nice.
Aaron Chapin (08:44):
Hopefully she's listening.
Emily Jett (08:45):
Yeah, she'll be listening.
Jeff Ney (08:49):
I still talk to my co-op to this day, Maura Layton, and I keep going way back. I see her all the time in our school, so...
Aaron Chapin (08:56):
All right.
Jeff Ney (08:57):
She's fantastic. Well, obviously there's a great teacher shortage. We've already reported on it here in this podcast series and we hear about it in our news all the time, and PSEA continues to try to advocate for legislative changes to try to help the workforce out, especially in education. One of the biggest successes that we have is the student teacher stipend. So it's funny that both of you have a little bit different version of that because depending upon when the legislation gets put forward, one of you is going to get it, and one of you happens to just miss that cutoff because of the timing of everything. So how do you think having legislative things like that put across the street, putting legislation, is going to attract people back into education? We'll start with Emily.
Emily Jett (09:44):
I'm one of those people that are probably not going to get it since I'm currently student teaching, but I know that student teaching, not getting paid for it was such a huge deterrent for so many people. I actually came across a receptionist at a doctor's appointment once and asked what I went to school for and I told her teaching and she told me that she had three kids when she went to college and that that was the field she would've loved to do, but she couldn't afford to pay for her kids if she wasn't working for four months. So that was her deterrent from being a teacher. So I think having this stipend definitely put in place will bring a lot more people into the field.
Jeff Ney (10:23):
Very nice. Amber, what are your thoughts?
Amber Bloom (10:26):
So I will hopefully be one of the people who will be able to get the student teacher stipend due to the fact that I'm pre-student teaching now and won't be student teaching in the fall. And pretty much just to talk about what Emily did, I could not agree more that this will not only help people who will be going into teaching and who are like, "Okay, maybe I'm not sure if this is what I want to do." That $10,000 could be the difference between them staying in education or saying, "Maybe this isn't what I'm supposed to do." Knowing that they have that little cushion that normally other majors would get. So I think that it's going to not only bring more people in, but I think it's going to keep the aspiring educators that we have, I think it's going to keep them in the field of education.
Aaron Chapin (11:05):
And Jeff, obviously this is great for our student teachers, but obviously there's an economic impact for our cooperating teachers as well.
Jeff Ney (11:12):
Absolutely. And part of that legislation is also if our members out there take that leap and take the student teachers, there's that extra stipend for our cooperating teachers as well because like Emily points out, it's a job teaching somebody else not only the kids that they have in their classroom, but now you're taking on somebody else for their future as well.
Aaron Chapin (11:31):
This is going to be obviously really impactful as far as getting a much more diverse pool of educators in our schools which our kids so desperately need. And obviously this is going to have a big impact, Amber, just on your family and as you move forward into your future, I would assume.
Amber Bloom (11:49):
Absolutely.
Aaron Chapin (11:50):
All right.
Jeff Ney (11:51):
So coming very soon, you guys have your Outreach to Teach, part of your conference for the student PSEA conferences coming up. Aaron and I have both had the opportunities of joining student PSEA at those events and it's just a fantastic opportunity for you guys to do. So can you guys give me a little bit of your own background, of your own experiences with this event and tell everybody out there a little bit about it? Amber, how about we start with you?
Amber Bloom (12:17):
So first of all, Outreach to Teach is where we go into a local school district where our conference is located and we beautify it, which means that we make the school a warm and welcoming place for those children to walk into on Monday whenever they come back. So we make it a place that feels welcoming and a place that just allows them to grow, both as individuals but also as students. So when I actually attended the first conference my sophomore year and I was not involved in any student PSEA in any way, shape or form, and Emily actually said to me, said, "Hey, do you want to run?" I'm like, "What do you mean run?" And she goes, "Do you want to run on the state board with me?" I said, "Sure, why not?" And then now here I am, and student PSEA has become such a big part of my life and something that I will never be able to repay Dr. Chris Clayton and my advisor, Dr. Melissa Marks, in a way that...
(13:08)
Student PSEA has been the backbone for me and has been my support system and I have made my best friends through it, and it has been the biggest impact, I think, on me as an educator personally.
Jeff Ney (13:19):
That's awesome.
Amber Bloom (13:21):
So I don't know, that's hard to follow. I do especially love the outreach part of the conference, not going to lie, because you do get to paint a school for the kids and just imagining what their face would be like when they come into a school that was once so bland and now has all these beautiful murals. I can just picture their faces and that makes me happy, and that's what it's all about, really, making it a better place for them to learn. And I do also love going to the conference for all the professional development they have and the breakout sessions. I think you get a lot of good information from those as well. And then, yeah, running for the state office positions or for region office there, that was a huge leap for me. And I was terrified doing it, but I had a great support system.
(14:12)
I mean, my advisor, Dr. Marxist, who really encouraged me to run for region in the first place, and then I stayed and I kept going because of Dr. Chris Clayton and my advisor, Dr. Marks. And it was just, I had a good support system and student PSEA has become my whole world. I have no idea what I'm going to do after graduation not being as involved in that anymore. I'm going to have to work my way back up.
Jeff Ney (14:39):
Well, there's always opportunities to stay involved with PSEA on every level, depending upon if you land in a job here in Pennsylvania or even we have our substitute category, so PSEA could still be part of everybody's life, but that's absolutely fantastic. I always wanted to see the kids' faces Monday morning when they walk in because the work that all of our student members do at these schools, it really is amazing. If you ever have an opportunity, our listeners out there, to be part of this or take a look at it, highly encourage you to do that.
Aaron Chapin (15:06):
Where's the conference being held this year?
Emily Jett (15:08):
This year it's in Lancaster, PA.
Aaron Chapin (15:10):
All right, well I know Jeff, Rachel and I will be there at different points throughout the weekend, so we look forward to being there. And I know Rachel will be there for your outreach as well and she'll get to see all the great things you're going to do. When I look at our student PSEA, and again, when we look across the country, our aspiring ed programs really are phenomenal. We just had President Becky Pringle in here a couple of weeks ago and she was speaking off air about how great the student programs are. But student PSEA seems to be just something very, very special. And again, it's not a slight towards the rest of the states, it's just, student PSEA is fantastic and I really am in awe of what you and your colleagues do. Your generation is especially known for being socially and politically active and aware.
(16:00)
It's something that Jeff and myself and our colleagues at your stage of the game, it wasn't what we were into. What kind of positive effect do you think you could have on teaching, considering the profession often gets caught in the middle of heated political debates, Amber? What do you think?
Amber Bloom (16:20):
Wow, that is such a very good question. Well, I think that not only, we were talking about student PSEA, I think that this year we decided that as a whole, we wanted to be the change. We wanted to start that. We wanted to make the lives of aspiring educators and teachers in the future, we wanted to make an impact that would be forever lasting. So I think that's a shout out to student PSEA. I think that's what we did this year is we wrote letters and we advocated for things that would impact us now, but also those cooperating teachers and people who are not a part of student PSEA are going to feel this, the ED Rising program, they're going to feel the impact that we made. So I think us having that connection and us advocating for what we need now and in the future is a way that we can connect with cooperating teachers and we can make those connections that are going to make that impact that lasts forever.
Aaron Chapin (17:10):
And before we go over to you, Emily, I mean, that legislation for student teachers, that came as a directive from the aspiring educator community. That came directly from you at a House of Delegates and you're making an impact right now and for generations to come, which is just simply amazing.
Jeff Ney (17:29):
Right. The legacy that you guys are leaving behind for everybody is being made today. That's fantastic.
Aaron Chapin (17:35):
Emily, what do you think?
Emily Jett (17:35):
I think it is different nowadays being interested in politics and being involved in the union as much as we are because we're not just doing this to go into teaching. I think once we realized what student PSEA really was, we jumped in it because we saw the endless possibilities that could be. Student teachers, we saw it was a problem not getting paid. We were like, that's something that could happen. How could it happen? Well, it was a long process and we figured it out, right? But I think we all did it for the possibility of a better future for everybody.
Jeff Ney (18:14):
That's fantastic. So a couple of the topics that are happening right now that are talked about in pretty much everybody's lunchroom right now is the movement of technology. Now, a couple of old timers like Aaron and I, the technology that we were scrambling for was overhead projectors in our classrooms, we went around and tried to do that. For you guys, it's artificial intelligence, and AI seems to be one of those things that is taking over a lot of classrooms, especially a lot of the student work and stuff like that. Have you guys had any kind of conversations of how you guys are either going to use or adapt AI into your teaching practices and something that you could share with our listeners?
Emily Jett (18:53):
I think it is definitely something that we talk about a lot nowadays. We've talked about it at just about every conference we've been at with our own chapter. I think if you're transparent about the AI, we all have admittedly used it as a backbone for something or an idea starter if you're stumped for brainstorming. I think if you're transparent about the fact that you use it once in a while and you teach your students how to properly use it, then I think it can become a friend and a helping tool as opposed to an enemy. If you treat it like the enemy, then your students are going to be sneaky about using it like an enemy, and then they're going to be plagiarizing a complete AI written paper and then you have to use AI detector. I think you're making a slippery slope for it to become something negative.
Jeff Ney (19:42):
Yeah, great point. Amber, how about you?
Amber Bloom (19:45):
I would agree. If you have your students hide from it and run away from it, then you're telling them that they're not allowed to use the resources that are available. And that doesn't mean that they need to use AI to write their papers, that just means that if they decide that they want to use AI to give them a writing prompt and then they have to answer it. It's a way of them using it instead of being like, "Oh, I don't want to even get near it. I want to run from it." It allows them to utilize it instead of hiding it. And like Emily said, using it in a way that's not good for them.
Jeff Ney (20:13):
As Aaron and I, coming up through the ranks and the technology kept on changing. I mean, we went through covid and we almost perfected now Zoom technology so that we can meet with everybody. AI is just that next step and it seems like you guys have a great handle on it.
Aaron Chapin (20:26):
It's a tough debate and I know NEA is analyzing it, they've got a task force assembled and there's no easy answers, but I think there's a lot of us that agree with the perspective that you have, embracing it and being transparent. Jeff, we're coming towards the end so you want to do a pop quiz?
Jeff Ney (20:45):
Pop quiz bonus question?
Aaron Chapin (20:46):
Let's do it.
Jeff Ney (20:48):
All right. So everybody, I mean we're at that point in the year where everybody's got their own little countdowns going. So do you guys have your countdown of when you are done, when you're going to graduate? And if you do have your countdown, what's your number?
Emily Jett (21:02):
I do have the countdown, but I don't know the number, I just know the date. I count it out to the date. I am done student teaching April 5th and I graduate April 27th, so I have been counting the months away.
Aaron Chapin (21:18):
April 5th, that's early.
Emily Jett (21:18):
April 5th. We were allowed to start early if we committed to five consecutive days before Christmas break.
Aaron Chapin (21:24):
Oh, that'll give you a lot of opportunity to maybe do some teaching when you're done.
Emily Jett (21:27):
Yes, so I'm going to be day-to-day subbing for the rest of the year.
Aaron Chapin (21:30):
All right.
Jeff Ney (21:30):
Wow. Getting a little taste before Christmas break. That's fantastic.
Aaron Chapin (21:33):
That's a great idea.
Jeff Ney (21:34):
That's fantastic.
Aaron Chapin (21:35):
Shout out to Pittsburgh.
Emily Jett (21:36):
Yes.
Jeff Ney (21:37):
Amber, do you have a countdown?
Amber Bloom (21:38):
So because I am student teaching in the fall, I will technically graduate in December, but my university is allowing me to walk with everybody that I started the program with. So I will actually be walking in a graduation ceremony April 27th with Emily as well. So I am ready to graduate, but I'm ready to graduate with the people that I started with, my friends.
Jeff Ney (21:58):
Well, that's going to be very exciting and you guys are going to do a great job.
Aaron Chapin (22:03):
All right. Well, sadly, we're all out of time, Jeff.
Jeff Ney (22:06):
My goodness.
Aaron Chapin (22:07):
I know.
Jeff Ney (22:07):
Where'd the time go?
Aaron Chapin (22:07):
It flies by. But we have been very fortunate to have two guests today. Our guests have been student PSEA president, Emily Jett, and Vice President, Amber Bloom. Thank you, Emily and Amber so much for being here and good luck as you get ready to start your careers.
Emily Jett (22:25):
Thank you.
Amber Bloom (22:26):
Thank you for having us.
Aaron Chapin (22:27):
Same time. Nice. And thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in again. Do you have some feedback for us? Maybe you have a question, maybe you need that advice from Jeff who's just itching to give some advice.
Jeff Ney (22:39):
I love it. Absolutely love it.
Aaron Chapin (22:40):
Ladies, don't.
Jeff Ney (22:41):
I'm like the Dr. Phil of PSEA.
Aaron Chapin (22:43):
Yeah, yeah. Again, you got to send us an email though, podcast@psea.org. In the future, we're going to be sharing some of these emails randomly when we're doing one of these podcasts.
Jeff Ney (22:55):
Randomly?
Aaron Chapin (22:56):
We're going to pull them out of a bag or something and we're going to keep it anonymous. We don't want to embarrass anybody.
Jeff Ney (23:01):
Okay.
Aaron Chapin (23:02):
But we're going to share...
Jeff Ney (23:02):
We're going to air them a little bit.
Aaron Chapin (23:04):
The ones that we share, they're going to be getting swag.
Jeff Ney (23:07):
Oh, nice.
Aaron Chapin (23:08):
We're going to have duty free lunch swag.
Jeff Ney (23:09):
Fantastic.
Aaron Chapin (23:10):
Please send us some emails. We want to hear from you, the listeners. Again, I am Aaron Chapin.
Jeff Ney (23:15):
And I'm Jeff Ney. And
Aaron Chapin (23:16):
You've been listening to Duty Free Lunch. Bye for now.
Voiceover (23:24):
You've been listening to Duty Free Lunch with the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Visit psea.org/podcast to learn more, and don't forget to subscribe and share. Paid for by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.