Life and Work with Jocelyn Goodwin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jocelyn Goodwin.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, but truly grew up (from Kindergarten through the end of high school) in North Andover, MA. I went to Syracuse University for college. I studied Communication Sciences and Disorders (Speech Pathology and Audiology). I entered graduate school at Wheelock College right after Syracuse. At Wheelock, I did a one-year teacher licensure program, followed by a one year Masters Program to become a Reading Specialist. While I was in graduate school, I worked full time for the Merrimack Valley YMCA, teaching preschool for the Lawrence and Methuen YMCAs. When I graduated, I was hired by the Lawrence Public Schools where I taught Special Education for one year and First Grade for 3 years. I moved to Brooklyn after my fifth year of teaching. I worked for Uncommon Schools in Brooklyn and taught second grade for four years at an all-boys school in Bedford Stuyvesant. In the Spring of 2011, I decided to move back to the Boston area. I was hired as a Founding Second Grade Teacher for Match’s first elementary school in the summer of 2011. I taught second grade for two years, which were my tenth and eleventh years of teaching.

In the 2011-2012 school year, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery and treatment for 6 months at Mass General and Dana Farber Cancer Institute here in Boston. Following that, I became the Language and Literacy Director at my school for one year and then was promoted to the Assistant Principal of the school, a position that I held for two years. For my first year as the Assistant Principal, I was also accepted into the Lynch Leadership Academy at Boston College, which is a one-year fully-funded fellowship that helps train and prepare urban principals. Before the 2016-2017 school year, I proposed a new position for myself-I wanted to become the Director of the ESL Department and fully develop out the ESL Program at our school. For the past two years, I have spent my time doing just this!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely has not been a smooth road.

Some of my struggles included moving to NYC and adapting to a new city. Learning how to teach at an all-boys school. Teaching and going through breast cancer treatment. Really figuring out what “niche” of education is “just right” for me.

My best pieces of advice:
1. Make every moment count. You never know when your health or your life will be called into question.

2. Be present in all of your experiences. Each one has been designed to teach you something.

3. Reflect, listen, and be open to feedback from others. You can grow fast through coaching and mentoring!

4. Learn when and how to say no. You cannot do everything, even though you may want to.

5. It’s okay to not know exactly what you want to do. You will discover it over time.

5. Appreciate and honor the journey. You don’t become an expert at something overnight.

Please tell us about Match Community Day Charter Public School.
Right now, I am working in a position that I have essentially developed, molded, and shaped for myself. I am excited to be leading the way in developing a program for multilingual students that we all can be proud of.

I am the Director of the ESL Department for Match Community Day Charter Public School in Hyde Park, MA. This is Match’s elementary school. We serve 630 students in Preschool through Fifth Grade. The large majority of our students are multilingual and come from many different cultures and backgrounds. At our school, we believe that teaching is a team sport. In addition, we believe that we all need to work in a way that is rigorous and joyful to best serve our students and we measure our own daily success through our student growth and achievement.

We are currently in the process of defining what we truly believe about working with our multilingual students. This is our most recent draft of our belief statements. (I think our approach is unique because we are trying to deliver our ESL instruction within the classroom, instead of pulling our students out into separate rooms. We are also speaking about our multilingual students in an asset-based way, where we constantly think about what they “can do” and what they “can bring” to our school every day.)

Match’s Multilingual Learner Program Vision

LANGUAGE – We believe that ALL scholars are academic language learners and all teachers are academic language teachers.

MORE THAN A SCORE- We believe that our multilingual scholars are MORE than just a score on the ACCESS Test or the ELD level that they have been assigned. We believe that all of our scholars come from rich cultural backgrounds and come with unique resources and experiences that we can leverage in our teaching every single day.

CO-TEACHING MODEL – We believe in using the co-teaching model to serve our multilingual scholars. In this model, two or more teachers share responsibility for teaching scholars, planning instruction, and evaluating scholar progress. We believe that co-teachers must collaborate to implement The Sheltered English Instruction Model successfully.

PULL OUT SUPPORT – We believe that pull out support is provided to scholars when it is determined that they need more intensive language teaching beyond what can be provided in the classroom.

SCAFFOLDING – We believe in scaffolding and supporting lessons to ensure our scholars can do the most important thinking and work in the lesson. We only provide scaffolds when they are necessary.

DATA – We believe in using a diverse set of data points to inform our scaffolds, supports, and instructional decisions.

FEEDBACK – We believe in giving our scholars regular, individualized feedback on both content and language. We believe in giving feedback to our teammates about how to better teach content and language.

URGENCY – We believe our work is urgent and important. We believe in adjusting our practice every day through coaching and collaboration to do what is best for our scholars.

There’s a wealth of academic research that suggests that lack of mentors and networking opportunities for women has materially affected the number of women in leadership roles. Smart organizations and industry leaders are working to change this, but in the meantime, do you have any advice for finding a mentor and building a network?
I try to network and meet new people wherever I go. I am always talking, sharing, volunteering answers, and inquiring for more information.

I try to attend as many professional development workshops and meetings as my schedule allows in order to be up-to-date about what is going on in my field and with the people who are doing the most important work.

I try to share the resources that I have and the things that I have created with others. In sharing my own things, I have found that many other professionals are willing to open up and do the same. By sharing, we continue to help each other move forward, without having to re-create the wheel each time.

I have advocated for myself during the times when I have needed more mentorship and guidance. Sometimes, all you have to do is ask for someone to mentor you. I was very inspired by the work of another ESL Teacher/Coordinator, Sarah Becker, at the Edward Brooke Charter School-East Boston. I went to observe her in action, met with her to pick her brain, and then later, asked her to mentor me for one year and teach me all that she knew! I will forever be grateful for her thought, care, and the time she took with me.

Contact Info:

• Address: Match Community Day Charter Public School
  100 Poydras Street
  Hyde Park, MA 02136
• Website: http://www.matcheducation.org/
• Email: jocelyn.goodwin@matchschool.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jocelyn4130/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jocelyn.goodwin
• Twitter: None
• Other: None

Image Credit:
Gretchen

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