Full-time student, full-time teacher, full-time hustle

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Taylor Aloisio’s alarm wakes her up at 6:30 a.m., heralding the beginning of another 16-hour day for the college senior. But instead of learning from a teacher, for the first half of the day, she is the teacher.

Student teaching isn’t unheard of at Manhattan College. It’s actually required of all students majoring in childhood, adolescent or special education at some point during their senior year. 

Aloisio’s experience as a student teacher before the coronavirus pandemic closed down campuses everywhere was different from her peers, however. She’s a childhood education major, meaning she’ll be certified to teach first through sixth grade. However, Aloisio wanted to be certified to teach kindergarten as well, meaning she had to spend time in front of preschoolers this past semester in order to fully complete the program.

Balancing a full-time job as a full-time student can be stressful. But for Aloisio, there is an extra commitment. She’s a member of the Jasper Dancers, Manhattan College’s national championship-winning dance team. That was supposed to include practicing five days a week, dancing at all home basketball games, and competing at the National Dance Alliance competition in Daytona Beach, Florida in April. Of course, the coronavirus crisis wiped all that out, but not before Aloisio was responsible for finding a way to teach, take classes, and keep up with all her extra-curriculars.

Her commitment to the dance team was the primary reason why Aloisio chose the fall to teach full-time.

“Our schedule becomes more hectic in the spring semester,” she said. “I knew that both student teaching in the spring and being a member of the Jasper Dancers would become too overwhelming to me, so the fall semester was the better option.”

Aloisio’s schedule was about as packed as it could be. Her day at the Riverdale Nursery School and Family Center on Waldo Avenue began at 8 a.m., where she taught preschool until 2:30 p.m. The kids headed home after that, but not Aloisio. She would return to campus to work a job at the college’s ID office. After that, it was classes from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. 

Most days, Aloisio would top it off with dance practice until 11 in the evening.

With a schedule this hectic, it would be easy for anyone to be overwhelmed. But for Aloisio, it just means some serious time management skills. She likes to give her undivided attention to one task at a time.

“I really try to use any free moment that I have to get all of my work done that I need to so that when I am at practice, I can be totally focused on dancing and defending our title and not worrying about grading homework and writing lesson plans,” Aloisio said.

While her time teaching at the Riverdale Nursery School drew to a close last month, her road to becoming an educator began much earlier. Aloisio knew she wanted to be an elementary school teacher from the moment she started elementary school herself.

“I also always loved school as a kid and admired my teachers,” Aloisio said. “I wanted to follow in their footsteps.”

After grad school, Aloisio sees herself teaching at any level between kindergarten and third grade. But she already understands the positive impact a good teacher can have on a student’s life. 

Aloisio met a student who recently moved from the Dominican Republic. She had difficulty connecting with the student, as there was a language barrier between the two. Most of the time, she played alphabet games on an iPad so she could learn English. 

Then, one day, Aloisio attempted to close the gap.

“I decided I was going to read a book with her in English to give her a change of scenery and not do the same old boring thing every day,” Aloisio said. “I wrote the vocabulary words on sentence strips for her so that we could practice together.”

Aloisio and the young girl read the book together. Aloisio would read one word at a time, and the girl would repeat the words back to her. Her attempt to connect paid off.

“At the end of the day when (the students) were walking out of the classroom to go home, she ran up to me and said, in English, ‘Bye!’ and gave me the biggest hug with a smile on her face that I haven’t seen before from her,” Aloisio said. “This was a moment where I realized just how much of an impact I am going to have on so many students throughout my years of teaching, and I went home feeling very good that I helped her feel even just a little more comfortable in school.”

Taylor Aloisio, Manhattan College, teacher, childhood education, Rose Brennan

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