42 -- the answer to life, the universe, and years for an excellent teacher

Last year, one student was painfully shy, but through Zoom sessions, she started to speak up and ask questions about things she didn’t understand.”

Sally Buszinski has been an educator for a whopping 42 years! She started her career in Marshall County Schools in Cameron, WV, teaching kindergarten for six years. After that, she moved to Fort Worth, Texas where she continued teaching kindergarten for another twelve years and pre-kindergarten for four years. When Mrs. Buszinski moved to Pennsylvania, she started her career with Mars Area School District as substitute teacher. After substitute-teaching for one year, she was hired as a full-time teacher and continued to teach kindergarten for fourteen years at the Primary Center. 

Always up to the challenge of education, Buszinski started off on a new endeavor just five year ago, teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). Mrs. Buszinski travels daily between the Primary Center, the Elementary School, and Centennial to work with the district's English learners, noting that “the biggest change was working with small groups and at many different grade levels." Along with the current expectation to be providing instruction in-person and online, Buszinski is expected to be present in three separate buildings.

Like many teachers since the COVID-19 pandemic, Buszinski had to reinvent the way she was teaching to reach both students in the classroom and the students who are learning through LSI.  Unlike many teachers however, Buszinski has the additional hurdle of instructing young students whose primary language is not English and whose parents also may not speak English.  This language barrier can further complicate instruction.  Despite these problems, Buszinski perseveres and shows how that there are worthwhile pros to online instruction in spite of the normal cons.

“It is difficult for some young students to communicate with their friends and adults through Zoom. However, it benefits others. Last year, one student was painfully shy, but through Zoom sessions, she started to speak up and ask questions about things she didn’t understand,” said Buszinski.

Mrs. Buszinski’s favorite part of teaching ESL is seeing the progress that the students make in their language proficiency.

“They start with virtually no understanding of the English language, and before you know it they are reading and communicating with their peers and teachers. It’s very rewarding!”