Faculty Spotlight: It’s All About Relationships, This Professor Believes

Paulick practices what she teaches. She works to build relationships with her elementary education students and encourages relationships among students, especially those of different cultural, religious and social backgrounds.

UVA’s Office of the Provost recently recognized her efforts, awarding her a UVA Faculty Teaching Award. The awards “recognize the most dedicated, passionate, creative and equity-minded instructors who significantly and meaningfully contribute to the University’s teaching mission,” according to the Provost’s office.

“Her excellence as an instructor is evident in her classroom teaching practices; the productive relationships that she builds with students; the ways in which she addresses issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion in her instruction; and in the sterling reputation that UVA elementary teacher graduates have in school divisions throughout Virginia,” Peter Youngs, chair of the school’s Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education, wrote in a letter nominating Paulick for the award.

Paulick’s colleagues agreed, citing instances when the professor went out of her way to help struggling students.

“She is a rigorous teacher who holds students to the very highest of academic expectations while simultaneously supporting them as they learn to become elementary educators,” wrote Stephanie van Hover, a professor in Paulick’s department. “And when I say support, I mean support.”

Van Hover recounted times when Paulick helped a student find housing and lent her bicycle for transportation. Paulick encouraged another student, who could not find child care, to bring her child to class rather than miss it.

“She builds relationships with her students and creates a safe space to push them to think deeply about issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and teaching for social justice,” van Hover wrote.

For Paulick, it’s just about being a good teacher.

“I believe that relationships are the foundation of good teaching, from early childhood through graduate school,” she said. “You’re really going to miss out if you don’t build those relationships because that’s what gives you access and trust. That gives you the ability to push people past what they think they can do. And elementary teaching is incredibly hard work.”

Paulick was an elementary school teacher for four years, first in Compton, California, and then in Boulder, Colorado. Her introduction to teaching came in a summer program in New Haven, Connecticut. Those experiences, and time in the Peace Corps teaching educators in Polynesia’s Kingdom of Tonga, inspired her belief in getting to know students.

“I know from my own experiences that the most effective way to reach somebody, especially around topics that might feel challenging, is to be curious and open and build relationships with them first,” she said.

Paulick said teaching graduate students and being an elementary school teacher are different sides of the same coin.

“I loved being a classroom teacher. I loved getting to know children and really see the light bulbs going on when they understand something. That was exciting. It was invigorating. And I think teacher education is similar,” she said.

“Every year there’s a new group of people who have chosen this profession. They’re excited about it. I think anyone who’s choosing the profession in the current anti-teacher climate is a hero. They’re remarkable humans and I want to get to know them,” she said. “Some are parents, some have been out in the world doing very different things than teaching. All of them are interesting. Building on their life experience, identities and prior knowledge is really powerful.”

The win for Paulick is seeing her students succeed in their classrooms and starting them on lasting careers.

“The goal is to create teachers who stay in the classroom and who also become teacher-leaders in their schools and their school districts,” she said. “I want them to stay in love with teaching and their students and feel great, confident, skilled and like there’s room for professional growth, even if they stay in teaching for 20 or 30 years.”