Editor-in-Chief Manuela Prado sat down with Mr. Lin to learn a little bit more about him and his experience here at Manual Arts. Check out the interview below!

Teacher Name: Mr. Geroge Lin

Q: Where did you study?

Answer:

I studied at Western Illinois University.

Q: What do you teach?

Answer:

I teach 12th grade English and I’m also the AP coordinator

Q: Did you always want to study English?

Answer:

No, actually I was originally going to major in computers but I realized during the first year that it wasn’t really something that I enjoyed. So, I decided to switch to English education.

Q: How long have you been teaching here at Manual Arts?

Answer:

This is my fifth year.

Q: What is the most challenging part of your job?

Answer:

I think that the most challenging thing is basically the district. Working with the different programs that are posed on us, I guess the different mandates, testing, and  paperwork. There is always something new implied. There are always new projects, tests or pbl. They are always introducing something new, and sometimes I feel like they need to give teachers and students some time to truly understand something before moving on to something new.

Q: What do you like about your job?

Answer:

I think the big thing for me is those “Aha Moments” when I feel like a student really caught on to the lesson, really understood the point or really had a learning moment. Or when you have a breakthrough with a student who didn’t really say or do much for most of the year and all of a sudden you got through them in someway and  begin doing the work and they begin being productive. So, when you inspire those students you have those victory moments, I think that’s what I like about my job.

Q:What do you hope for this year?

Answer:

I hope to continue to improve in my craft in teaching even though I have been teaching for almost 10 years now, I  believe I still have a long way to go because teaching is always changing. There are always new methods and new strategies to try out. I’m also working as an AP coordinator this year and I hope to continue to move up in that roll as well. I’ve been doing training with teachers and I hope to help out the AP teachers and step up as a leader in that roll.

Q: If you could change something about the teaching system what would it be and why?

Answer:

The number one thing that I would probably change about the teaching system is that I would put more control back in the hands of the teachers and students. The students and teachers who show up everyday, I would put more decisions in their hands because right now I feel like the decisions are coming down from someone way up in the government. Someone who doesn’t know what Manual Arts is like who doesn’t know what the schools in this area are like. Someone who doesn’t know what LAUSD is like, maybe their kid goes to a private school and they have no idea what public education is like, or what the real problems are. So, I think putting more control of decision making in the hands of students and teachers.