No one would question if the hard-working teachers of South Jersey Catholic Schools spent their summer by the pool, at the beach or with their favorite book in hand.
For Joann Braker, however, the summer months are an opportunity not only for quality time with her 22-year-old daughter, Katie, but the chance to explore. All of these lessons she hopes to share with her students at Saint Michael the Archangel Regional School, Clayton, as well as instill an ever-present love of learning.
“I’m a lifelong learner; there’s so much out there,” she said.
In June, July and August, Braker and her daughter visited the Museum of Science in Boston; Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg, Tenn.; and the Cape May County Zoo in South Jersey.
At the Museum of Science, one of the highlights was a presentation on NASA’s upcoming moon missions, which she admits, “I wish I had recorded for my students.”
Walking Boston’s Freedom Trail, the two followed in the footsteps of America’s Founding Fathers, visiting the Paul Revere House and Old North Church, as well as the site of the Boston Massacre.
“Doing [outings] like in Boston – and learning about history, dinosaurs, space travel and the New England ecosystem – recharges my batteries and revitalizes my curiosity,” Braker said. “All of these things help me realize that I need to keep learning.”
From a young age, Braker felt the call to be a teacher. “I’ve always liked school, even helping the teacher clean the classroom or sorting files,” said Braker, who attended Saint Mary Magdalen de Pazzi School in Philadelphia from kindergarten to fourth grade.
As a young girl, “I would act as a teacher to my dolls, and have a classroom for them,” she said with a laugh.
Braker holds a bachelor’s degree in education, master’s degree in curriculum and a supervisor’s certificate. She is a fifth-grade English language arts teacher at Saint Michael the Archangel, but confesses her main love is science, which she teaches to students in grades five through eight.
“I’ve always loved the wonder and discovery of learning how our world works,” she said.
In her labs, she said she loves the “wow” moments: those lessons that “challenge your expectations, make you question and bring growth.”
Braker even admits that some of her favorite times are when students ask her a question she doesn’t have the answer to. “When that happens, it’s an opportunity for the students and I to research – and learn together.”
After three-plus decades as a public school educator, she was happy to return to her Catholic school roots in 2022, at Saint Michael the Archangel, and its “family atmosphere,” she says.
“I appreciate being able to express my faith openly here, whether that means leading grace before meals with my students, or serving as a Eucharistic minister” at the monthly school masses.
In the passion and curiosity she brings to her young students, she hopes mostly that they take away, if anything, “the process of learning how to be a good student; learning how to take good notes, and studying well for exams.” “And, of course, those ‘wow’ moments.”
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