Jamie Wilen-Spencer

Tell us why you became a teacher

I come from a family of teachers–– my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle–– all educators. I felt I needed to take my own path so I forged on in a career in the arts. Each day of work I came home exhausted and feeling unfulfilled. I took some time to look back at my most joyful work experiences and each time it came back to my work with children at a day camp. It was at this point I decided to make a change and enter the NYC Teaching Collaborative Program to follow a more fulfilling path.

Tell us about your most memorable teaching experience

My most memorable experiences teaching center in my reading intervention classroom. Watching my students blossom into more confident learners brings me such joy. As the first state exam for one of my students approached, he was incredibly nervous. We worked together on calming strategies and I made sure I was his reader/scriber for the exam. He sat for 4 hours working diligently and wound up passing the exam. His excitement after the fact was worth every missed prep I spent working with him!

What would you do with the $25,000?

Receiving $25,000 would be life changing. The first thing I would do with the prize would be to reinvest in my education. I want to build greater leadership skills so I can one day run a school or make an impact citywide on students with disabilities. With the remainder, I would love to travel more. Bringing cultures and languages from around the world to my classroom will allow me to connect with my students at a higher level.