Mrs. Erica Tamsin began working at EHPS as the 6-12 English Instructional Leader in April and is looking forward to building collaboration skills at both JMMS and EHHS to introduce the vision of the graduate and influence and change the curriculum when needed.
Background
Mrs. Erica Tamsin has taught in 4 different school districts over her years of teaching. She first taught in West Haven teaching both 9th and 10th grade. In 2016 she went back to education after taking 5 years off for family needs and her kids and for the past 8 years Tamsin taught at Hamden. In 2023 she graduated after going back to school in 2021 and had to decide between school counseling or administration. She is very happy to have chose administration and to be working at EHHS. She said, “I’m really excited as I just mentioned about still being able to be in the classroom for part of my time. That’s something that’s really important to me, of being able to influence Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment but still having interaction with students”
What is an Instructional Leader?
Mrs. Tamsin does a variety of things including:
- Partnering with colleagues to tweak curriculum if needed
- Work at JMMS 2 days a week to align the 6-8th grade standards
- Participating with staff at EHHS and JMMS to work on the Vision of the Graduate and work it into the curriculum.
The Best Part (about EHHS)
Mrs. Tamsin shared, “Every day I’m learning something new. On paper it sounds like you would just be looking at the curriculum. But the model of collaboration with leadership in this district is one that I’ve never seen or experienced before. [There are] collaborative efforts all the way up from the superintendent down to say the teachers.”
Best Qualities a Teacher Should Have
A teacher should hold high expectations for students but also have empathy and understand that things can be tough. “One of the things that I pride myself on and being a classroom teacher for 16 years is having a high and clear expectation of my students, but realizing that there’s moments where you need grace and empathy because life is life.”
Future Goals
Her main goal is to understand the EHPS mission that is being made and help students whenever they need help. Mrs. Tamsin recently participated in the “9th Grade on Track Meetings.” This is making sure that the freshmen are having a good entrance to high school and making a positive transition. Mrs. Tasmin wants to be able to give students new opportunities and help them whenever possible.
