By Allison Vande Velde
There are many funny, creative, and kind teachers at Williamsville East High School. The role of being a highschool teacher is to guide a student into their future and be a helpful supportive individual. Although the role of being a teacher sounds very easy, it might be a lot more difficult .
WhenMrs. Brodnicki first started teaching at East, her first impression was that “it has a more laid back casual feel to it. People get along well here and the students are more academically inclined. Overall East has been the best school I have worked at.” Mrs B. first started working at Sweet Home High School then she went to Springville, but over the years she has worked at most of the schools in the Williamsville School District. Although she has changed so many schools and changed teaching languages, Mrs. Brodnicki has been teaching for nineteen years now. She first started working at East in 2010 when she was on leave from her Spanish teaching position in Springville. One of her friends who worked at East had been telling her about a job working as a part-time Latin teacher and she thought, “that’s my perfect job, I want to work part time and I want to teach Latin”. Although Mrs. Brodnicki has not been to Italy yet, she has traveled to Spain. Being the only Latin teacher at East it’s already hard for her to get everything done. She says the Latin Club is very expensive and it’s very draining. In Mrs. In Brodnicki’s classroom, she constantly focuses on helping students achieve everything they can. Some things she does to do this is she does projects and options on things that are done in class. Mrs. Brodnicki said, “We play a lot of games. I teach in a way that eventually everyone will have their needs met.”. Mrs. Brodnicki really tries to find what works best for everyone. If you take Latin and have Mrs. Brodnicki you are sure to know of Sporcle and how annoying it is. Mrs. Brodnicki’s favorite things to do with her students is “torturing” them with Sporcle.
When asked about what Mrs. Brodnicki likes to hang out with her friends and family. She said, “I enjoy traveling when I get the chance.” Mrs. Brodnicki’s choice of food that she would have for the rest of her life would “have to be cookies, I could never get enough of them.” Mrs. Brodnicki has a big thing for her pets. Mrs. Brodnicki has three dogs whose names are Abigail, Jackson, and Hazel. Jackson and Hazel are five years old and Abigail is turning 15 years old! Mrs. Brodnicki not only has dogs but she has cats! Their names are Jorge and “who is going to be nine in June ”, her grand-kitten Dusty Roo who is six months old, and of course the famous Sir Edgar Francis. Everyone at East who knows Mrs. Brodnicki also knows Edgar, “He’s the celebrity at East.” Most days Mrs. Brodnicki will send all of her classes a picture of Edgar to the remind app. Outside of school Mrs. Brodnicki enjoys eating cookies majority of the time. She also enjoys hanging out with her four-legged friends. Mrs. Brodnicki said, “Oftentimes one or multiple of my furry friends will jump onto my bed and nap or hangout with me.” When asked about what her favorite movie is Mrs. Brodnicki said, “The Hunger Games is my favorite current movie. Not only do I love the movie but I also love the book.” Although Mrs. B loves the Hunger Games, she said her all-time favorite movie would have to be Goonies! When asked about what challenges Mrs. Brodnicki has overcome she said,
“Everyday’s a challenge but just getting through that day/challenge is the best way to overcome it.” Another challenge for Mrs. Brodnicki was when she first started teaching and was finding out a way to get students to want to learn latin. Mrs. Brodnicki got over this challenge by adding fun things into lessons and playing games for vocab every week.
