DiGiacamo's Interview

Ms. DiGiacomo has been teaching at Selvigan High School for 27 years. She enjoys watching students make connections and have those "light bulb" moments. She has been in the same classroom since she started. Many things have changed since her first year, including the school schedule and administrators. During COVID, instruction was challenging, with some students not being committed to learning. Ms. DiGiacomo believes laptops can be valuable for certain tasks like research papers, but not for testing. She shares a story about her first year of teaching where students were disrespectful, but also a heartwarming story where the senior class gave her a puppy as a thank you. She has seen various policy changes, including attendance and grading scales. Ms. DiGiacomo chose to teach at South Aiken High School because she wasn't happy at her previous school and wanted to homestead in South Carolina. We are here with Ms. DiGiacomo, one of our English teachers here at Selvigan High School. How long have you been teaching at Selvigan High School? 27 years. I was a graduating class of 2024. 27 years. What is the best part that you look forward to during the day? Watching students make a connection. Watching students hit that light bulb, letting it dawn on them. Were you always in the same room, and if so, were you always in the same room? Yes. I've been in that very same room since the day I started. Has anything changed since your first year teaching? Where do you want me to start? When I first came to Selvigan, we were on a six-period day. School began at 10 till 8, and children were dismissed at 3 o'clock. When did that change? Well, then we went to a seven-period day, and school began at 8, 10, and children were dismissed at 3, 15. We've stayed on the seven-period day, as you know, up until last year. However, dismissal three years ago, I think, is when ... No, it's been longer than that. It's been about five. It was pre-COVID, so school began at 8, 20, and dismissal is 3, 30, as it is now. So, yes, a lot has changed. I've lived through five administrators. That's been fun. It's been very unique to compare the administrative style, and you learn to adapt your classroom management and your instructional procedures according to which administrator you're serving. Children have changed, too. How was time during COVID compared to after COVID? Instruction during COVID, as you know, if you were a student, hence you lived through that experience in school, so initially there was no instruction when school shut down. The hybrid year, I found the hybrid year effective. The children were glad to be back at school. They were eager to learn. Class sizes were smaller, which allowed for more one-on-one instruction in addressing individual needs. That I appreciated. The following year, which was the first full school year back, I found the children ill-prepared. They were not committed to learning, and they did not exercise a lot of self-discipline in the classroom. They didn't understand the importance of catching up on two years' worth of instruction. So the third year of COVID was rough in terms of classroom engagement. I tried to set a level of rigor, and they weren't ready for that level of rigor. And they're seniors, so I was supposed to be preparing them to go out and be successful. So that was very challenging. Is that what you wanted? Yes, ma'am. Do you think it's better for students to have laptops? I'm not a fan of technology in general. However, in certain situations, for example, the research paper, and I am a fan of a research paper. I think the laptops are invaluable. It allows me to utilize instructional time to actually write the paper in class and guide the students as they do write, instead of having them compose at home, submit for editing, compose another body paragraph, submit. I can monitor as they develop their papers. And I think they learn from that. Elsewise, I do not utilize Schoology for testing. I don't think that that is conducive to an accurate measure of their knowledge. I think that they are inclined to look for shortcuts when trying to answer questions. So there are pros and cons to answer your question. What is one good story and one bad that you can remember from your first year teaching? Teaching in general or teaching at South Icahn High School? Teaching at South Icahn High School. My first year at South Icahn. Oh, you've been teaching longer then? Mm-hmm. I've been teaching 32 years total. But my first year at South Icahn, I had a freshman English class. And the children thought that they could wear their hoodies and put their feet on the desk and have snacks in the classroom. And it was a very disrespectful scenario. They assumed that, gosh, this is a new teacher to South Icahn, so we can just do whatever we want to do. So I had to break them of that thought process, you know, so, hey, she's the teacher, I'm the student. And it took us about a month to figure out that if they didn't do what I asked them to do, they weren't going to be in school very long. A good story, the best story I can think of, and this is a heartfelt story, it was the senior class of 2008. And at the time, I was the sole senior class sponsor, and it was kind of like all the kids would get upset, you know, if they weren't passing this class or they weren't passing that class. And so they would come to me to fuss about, you know, not being able to get their diploma or their diploma not being right or their name being misspelled, etc., all the things that go with that. And one afternoon during 7th period, we were on the 7th period schedule at this time, the whole senior class started filing into my door in my little bitty classroom. And I was a little frightened, honestly, because it was like 20 of them, 30 of them, 40 of them, 50, and they just kept coming, and there was no room. And at the time, I kept all the diplomas and all the diploma covers and all that at the back of my classroom on a shelf and covered by a curtain. And I kept backing up and backing up and backing up, and I was getting a little intimidated because the entire senior class was filing into my classroom. And once they all got in, they made a little bitty pathway, and in that pathway came one little girl, senior, carrying a chocolate lab puppy. And they gave me that puppy and told me, they wanted to tell me thank you. And I think, it doesn't matter if I teach another 20 years, I don't think I'll ever have another experience like that, because they had chipped in, the entire senior class had chipped in and gotten me that puppy. What kind of policy changes have you seen in your years working here? Oh my goodness, where do you want me to start? Let's see, initially, in terms of attendance, students were allowed initially 20 absences. Of course, that went down to 10, now it's five per semester since we're on the block schedule. Other policy changes, one that I highly detest, is the grading scale. An A used to be a 93 to a 100, now we're giving a grade away, because golly, it used to be if they made a 69, it was an F, and they had to button up their seatbelts. But now, they can make a 60 and they're still passing my class, totally ridiculous. More policy changes, we have installed what we now call wind time, of course, prior to being called wind time, it was called power hour. I think that's a good thing when it's utilized correctly, for example, not to harp upon any of the issues that are taking place this week, but I have a little girl who was out with the flu for two weeks, and she's back, and she's missed three quizzes, not you, three quizzes and one summative assessment. And we had set dates for her to do that makeup work, and so today, after her first period, she came to me emotionally distraught, because how am I going to get my stuff made up before Thanksgiving when we don't have wind time anymore? So I'm a fan of wind time, power hour. Other changes? What's the matter? Why did you decide to teach here at South Aiken High School? That's a good question. I was living in Thompson, Georgia at the time, and I was teaching in Augusta when the position here at South Aiken came open. My original certification was in the state of South Carolina, and that's where I began my teaching career, is in South Carolina. And I wasn't very happy in Augusta at the school where I was, and so I had just casually put out my resume in various counties in South Carolina, and South Aiken called. The principal at the time was Mr. Gassman, and I interviewed with him, and then I interviewed at the district office, and I left the school I was teaching at and came to South Aiken in hopes of homesteading, and that's what I've been doing. Thank you so much, Ms. DiGiacomo, for being here with us and taking time off from your planning period, I believe, to be here with us? You're quite welcome. Thank you for asking me. I feel special. You should. You should.