Seven questions with Edwardsville High School teacher Joseph Birrittier
Joseph Birrittier is in his first year teaching at Edwardsville High School.
An agriculture teacher, Birrittier previously worked as a district sales manager for Frito-Lay in the St. Louis and Peoria areas after graduating from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. He majored in agriculture education.
Birrittier lives with his wife, who teaches elementary agriculture, in Smithton.
Birrittier recently answered seven questions with the Edwardsville Intelligencer.
Q: What first sparked your love for teaching?
“My love for teaching was sparked by high school agriculture instructors Tim McDermott and Carrie Koester. Both of them made me excited to come to school every day waiting to see what would happen in the Ag Classroom. I now try to foster that excitement in all of my students. I want them to think, ‘I wonder what crazy thing Mr. B has planned today?'”
Q: Who has been the biggest influence on you as an educator or as a person?
“My person who has had the biggest influence for me as an educator would have to be my grandfather. He taught me the importance of honesty, integrity and hard work. He was a lifelong hog farmer in Nokomis, Illinois, while also running his own fill station and trucking business. He never wavered, complained or failed in his duties in all three of his jobs while raising a family. When I graduated college and took the job with Frito Lay, he always said I would be back in the classroom again. To remind myself of the value he taught me, I have his FFA jacket from 1953 framed directly behind where I sit. Every morning, I walk in and am reminded of the one person who always pushed me to go back into the classroom.”
Q: What’s one thing your students might be surprised to learn about you?
“One thing that students would be surprised to learn about me is that I minored in Journalism at the University of Illinois and wrote a series of articles about Agriculture Issues during the pandemic.”
Q: What’s the best part of your day at school?
“The best part of my day at school is in mornings before the start of the school. I have a couple students that show up early around 6:45-6:50 and ask if there’s anything they can help me with to set up for the day. I love the fact students are buying into the Ag program and FFA chapter.”
Q: Can you share a moment when a student made you especially proud or moved you?
“In my Consumers Education course, I have a few MEL (multilingual English learners) students in my classroom. Not only do these students have to handle the daily grind of high school curriculum, but they are also trying to be better English speakers. Compound that with the fact I often make my students complete assignments while speaking in front of the class. To me, public speaking skills are crucial to success in the real world.
“Now, one of the students was maybe in her first month in my class and I told her she didn’t have to do her slides in front of the class and she could just submit it separately. But she insisted saying, ‘Mr. B I will do this like everyone else.’ The next day, she got up in front of the class and gave the entire four-slide presentation in English perfectly! She was excited, I was excited, and the whole class gave her a round of applause at the end. This moment really stuck out to me because of the courage that student had along with the support her fellow classmates gave her at the end.”
Q: What brings you joy or fulfillment in your work as a teacher?
“What brings me joy as a teacher is seeing how materials learned in my class make my students better citizens and well-equipped for the future. For example, one of the courses I teach is called Work-Base Learning. With this course I teach students employability skills such as job interviews, cover letters, and resumes.
“One of our first units was on mock job interviews and we had Dr. Brian Lane, head of human resources for the district, come in to act as the prospective employer. We had spent days preparing for these mock interviews and going through STAR method, which stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. Then the day of the interviews came and Dr. Lane said they killed it. To me, the best part of teaching is seeing students grasp the materials you teach them and apply them in the real world. Now these students in my Work Base Learning class are better prepared for any interview as a result of the materials we went over.”
Q: What do you hope your students take away from their time with you — not just in class, but in life?
“One of the most common things you will hear in my classroom is, ‘The only bad questions is the one you don’t ask.’ With this being my first year teaching, I am constantly bombarding my administrators, department head, and alumni group with questions. It’s only because I want to make myself better and to prevent making mistakes a second time.
“So often in life, I feel like people are afraid to ask questions or make mistakes because they don’t want to embarrass themselves. Students should feel comfortable making mistakes because errors are a natural and important part of lifelong learning. By seeking clarifications and embracing mistakes, I believe students will build stronger skills and greater lifelong confidence.”
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