A New Art Teacher for LYDC

As some of you may know, this is my last year at Loysville. I will be retiring after 24 years. I will miss the boys and I am grateful for the many opportunities that have been given to me both professionally and personally. I will remain active with the Correctional Education Association and am on the board of CEA Region I (Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Canada). This will probably be my last contribution to this blog. Thank you for your support and comments. The boys and I both appreciated your feedback.

BJ Berquist


A new Art Teacher is being hired to replace Mrs. Berquist. What are 3 strengths you would you recommend that the new teacher have?

I think the new art teacher should have good art skills, good teacher skills and good people skills. DA

Three strengths the new teacher should have are kindness, patience, and respect. The new teacher should not come here and be bitter to everyone. Kids will not like art class and resort it to the principal and that will start a bad reputation for the new teacher. The new teacher also should be patient with us. Everyone in here isn’t on the same artistic level and need different types of service. Last but not least, the new teacher should have respect for us. We should not be treated as criminals, but as young men and we will give the same respect back. MB

I would make sure that the teacher has humor. I would also like it if she knows an easier way to draw. I would also like her to have assignments that are fun. CM

I would like an art teacher to have tolerance for some kids who don’t have any respect and she needs self-control because kids do get itchy. I would know how you felt if you were my teacher. She also needs to have patience for us and the teachers cause I know kids are not the only ones who have problems. RS

One of the strengths that I would recommend the new art teacher to have is a good state of mind. I would recommend that because if you come in here with a bad state of mind then you will probably go crazy! Also I would recommend the new teacher to have a high self-esteem also because the kids are probably gonna bust on him or her. JB

Personally, another Mrs. Berquist would be perfect. But other people might think that the next art teacher might try and let us multitask! Just kidding ;-) But maybe the next art teacher might do group projects or everybody be on the same project and they would probably get finished quicker. There really isn’t anything else I would change. Happy retirement! DM

I like people that are funny cause that is what I can relate to. I like people who can be creative and make something out of nothing. If someone is nice, it promotes the aura of happiness. JH

Don’t take nothing from nobody; learn from the best, Mrs. Berquist, even if that’s hard for that teacher; and let us do art that we want to do. AG

I would recommend that the new art teacher has excellent art skills and for him/her to have excellent relationship with all students and not treat us as if we are locked up. MR

I think the new art teacher should have set projects that go in order, also I would say that they have to have lots of patience with the kids, and they should always have a good attitude so everyone else can have one. TR

I will tell the new teacher that the three strengths is for you not to let people to run over you, make sure the student is doing his work and make sure that you teat us how you would like to be treated and make sure everybody is given the same thing to do because if you do not they will be doing anything. RM

I would think that he or she has artwork skills, is respectful to the teachers and students, and also is polite to teachers and students. WC

I would tell the new teacher to give residents second chances because everybody that works and makes a mistake is sometimes given a second chance. The new art teacher would realize how other residents get along well every day someone is upset or sad to prevent something from happening the art teacher should talk to him and find out what is wrong and how can he make it better so we won’t be mad the rest of the day. The rules are easy to learn other teachers will help the new art teacher out. LP

Three things I would recommend for the new art teacher are they should be nice, fair, and be here to do their job and help students. RC

I think the new teacher needs to be respectful, pay attention to the kids and help like Miss Berquist used to do. GO

I would say they need to be skilled, good with kids and love their job. It is important for the new person to have good strengths and qualities for the job. If they are not skilled, good with kids, or love their job, then this job is going to be real hard for them. NC

The three strengths I would recommend are to be kind, have a big heart and be talented. These are 3 strengths I would recommend for the new teacher who is replacing Mrs. Berquist. TA

If you were the Principal of your school...

The Principal of your home school has taken a leave of absence and you have been appointed to fill in during his absence. What are the three main changes you would make to your school to make learning easier for you and the students?


I would make some classes shorter. I would have lots of fun. I will let some things go if the kids are getting their work done. DA

The first thing I would do is make my classes smaller. At my home school it is about twenty-five kids to a class. I would make it about ten kids so it can be easier and less hassle. I would assign about two teachers to a class to help out more. One teacher can teach the whole class and the other can get some individual teaching done. The last thing I would do is make games out of the class work at the end of every week and have prizes or extra credit for the winners. This would encourage the kids to want to learn. MB

I would assign games that would help us learn. I would also make sure that the work would have some type of fun with it. I would also assign extra teachers so they would understand better. CM

I would make learning easier by doing new things like I would have a study hall class for people who forget class work. I would have kids become creative like building an after school program fore kids who flunked. RS

I would allow all the students to have a pair of headphones because I think you will probably get more work and stuff done if you have something taking the distractions away. I would allow the students to work together except for on exams and tests because that would not only make learning easier but demonstrate team work too. The last thing I would do is permit all the teachers in the school to hand out NO homework because when the kids leave from school that’s the last thing they want to be worrying about. I don’t think homework does anything anyway except make things harder on kids, especially teens. JB

If I were principal of my school, I would have more hands-on activities, more study hall, and more educational movies. DM

Three things I would do to make things easier to learn are: students allowed to help each other; students allowed to stay after school in library to do homework/any work; make sure students are doing work at their level. RC

The three things will be – no uniforms, all work on the internet, and take them on trips to learn history. (not a lot, but the truth) AG

If I was filling in for my principal I would let it be more trips to museums and I would make sure every class has what they need so the kid can learn things appropriately. And I would upgrade the library so that kids can have a wider selection to choose from. MR

Me personally I would ask all the students I can what they like to do and what they think is a good way to learn and how they like to learn and what would help them learn. Then I would try my best to follow up on that and help everyone in the school to learn. TR

I will tell the kids to try not to get in trouble and do good and I will make sure that they will not skip classes and I will tell the teacher to make learning fun so that the kids will be more interested in learning and I will tell the teacher to be happy and have fun with their kids. RM

I would do more assemblies, I would have food more healthier, and I would make arrangements for a field trip if every kid in the school is doing good and working to their fullest ability. WC

I would make sure everybody is on time. I would change the classes around and put two teachers in each room so the kids can learn much better. Help the kids understand the work better – read it to them and give them some examples. LP

I would have classes divided into their learning ability. I would have school all year around so they could not forget things. We would have one week of school off a month. JK

If my principal was to go on vacation I think I would have educational trips every Wednesday. We would watch an educational movie until dismissal and I will give a pizza party to the best kids. GO

If my principal left I would change the way we learn a lot. I would have more computer interaction. I would have kids on the computer and have interactive programs. I would also have more time for projects because people don’t have much time and I would allow the kids to set how their schedule is so they could pick where they want to be and when. NC

The three changes I would make in my school to fill in during my principal’s absence would be – Lunch: I would make lunch free with better food; I would give kids the last 5 minutes of class for social talk; I would try and improve all teaching skills. This is what I would do. TA