Teacher Spotlight

Today we are proud to highlight Deborah Romaine, who has been a teacher in Brewster for 39 years. Over time, she has taught both 7th and 8th grade English, spending most of her time inspiring students in 8th grade.

Coming from a long line of teachers, we are honored that Deborah Romaine chose Brewster as the place to dedicate her entire career. Her commitment, passion, and impact have touched generations of students. 

 

Q: What kind of student were you in high school?

A: When I was in BHS, I was exactly the kind of student I am as a teacher:  a workhorse who always did my homework, always wanted to contribute (even more than my share) to class discussions, had to take the lead in groups, and was a cheerleader, which I think I still do for Brewster.

 

Q: Why did you become a teacher?

A: I come from a family of teachers; my grandmother even taught at Wells in her day, but I resisted teaching at first.  People in my life seemed to expect me to become a teacher, but I wanted a different career, like accounting, since I'm somewhat meticulous and thought I would be good at it. However, when I had to choose my first semester classes in college, only the literature courses interested me. I couldn't actually envision sitting in Accounting 101, so I never looked back after that.

 

Q: What's one thing your students might be surprised to learn about you?

A: Something a little surprising about me is that even though I love using technology in the classroom, I don't know even half of my phone's features and seek help from my own kids when I need to.

 

Q: What's something you'd like to do or someplace you'd like to go/bucket list more or less, 

A: My top bucket list destination is Scotland where the Outlander series is set so I can visit all the sites mentioned in the books.

 

Q: Best piece of advice ever given?

A: I've been told that the best piece of advice I have given was to the teachers I mentored. I told them that the most important goal for meeting parents at Open House is showing them that they are kind and care for their kids. What they say about the curriculum and how the class will run are mostly unimportant. Parents want to know their kids will be safe with them.

 

Q: Has a student ever taught you anything?

A: This isn't very important, but a student taught me to use Control-Shift-V when pasting text to maintain the same formatting as the rest of the document. I use this shortcut with my students every time we move text from a planning document to the draft.  It's a simple trick, but kids are usually very happy to learn it, and I learned it from one of them.