As a high school student, Ziman was offered a unique opportunity to participate in an alternative to college preparatory program where he got his first taste of aerospace. It was there he developed a passion for aviation.

“Basically I flew a plane before I even drove a car, so when I tell my students about this, they’re pretty surprised,” said Ziman, who currently teaches at The Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service.

Ziman, who received his undergraduate degree from Stony Brook University, where he majored in English, holds two Master’s Degrees; one from Excelsior College in Liberal Studies, with a concentration in education, and the other from Touro College in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

The Long Island native shared his thoughts on the challenges facing educators today, why he chose to be a teacher and how flying and teaching share some similarities.

Q: When did you first know that you wanted to be a teacher?
A: I kind of wandered into it while I was doing my undergraduate studies in English Literature. 

I actually started out studying aerospace science when I first went to college at SUNY Farmingdale. And although studying flying was lots of fun, I soon discovered that my poetry course was far more interesting to me than my course in Electronic Navigation. I’ve always respected learning and educators and working with kids, so it was a natural choice for me to pursue education. I really love teaching.

Q: So why Touro?
A: When I first started teaching, I taught for a few years Brooklyn, and had quite a few ESL students. I eventually ended up working in Vienna, Austria, as a teaching assistant, where I worked as an English as a Foreign Language Teacher. I loved working in Vienna, and decided when I returned to the States that I would study ESL, and add onto my English certification. So Touro was the perfect choice because of their TESOL program. It’s a great program.

Q:  What are some of the challenges facing educators today?
A: I think its tough keeping up with the rapid changes occurring in education today. Common core standards are essentially nation-wide standards done with the expectation of assuring that all students have the materials available to them to learn. I think that it’s our job to make sure we are keeping up with assuring these standards.

Q: What can you tell us about being a teacher in The Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service?
A: I currently teach in a ”second chance” school, which is designed to give students an opportunity to earn a high school diploma, and also to gives them a chance to develop skills to prepare them for college or a career. The majority of my students have either dropped out of school or were incarcerated, and have multiple issues that prevented them from being able to participate in a traditional school in a traditional sense. 

The classes a little bit smaller, and we’re interested in what they’re interested in learning. During the past few years, I’ve been teaching a documentary filmmaking program, where students are making films that are interesting to them; films about their lives. We’ve worked with a few different organizations for this project including The Education Video Center and Downtown Community Television. I’m kind of new to this, but I really love it. It’s very rewarding.

Q: What advice do you have to anyone thinking of entering into the field of education?
A:  Be eager to learn, be flexible, be organized, and always allow yourself to laugh.

Q:  Do you see any parallels between flying and teachings?
A:  Although I never soloed as a pilot, I was pretty close. And even though you have to fly solo sometimes as a teacher, there are a lot of people out there always supporting you, ready to help, kind of like flying. I also think that I am in a unique position to help my students to soar in another way, as I assist them in meeting their dreams and goals; dreams that once seemed unattainable, now become part of their everyday landscape. 

Q:  Can you relay that “light bulb” moment when you knew you had made the right decision to enter into the field of education?
A:  Some careers come with their bonuses, such as the finance industry in terms of financial rewards. But as an educator, our bonus is basically seeing a student in their cap and gown on graduation day receiving their diploma. I can think of no greater reward than being able to tell a student after seeing them struggle for the entire year, that they got a great grade on an exam. For me, those are the moments when I am sure I made the right choice to become a teacher.

Watch some of Ziman's students' work from the documentary filmmaking program and the video they made on The Brooklyn High School for Leadership and Community Service.