Who I am
I am an extremely dedicated Social Studies teacher working to ensure that my students are consistently learning in a meaningful, engaging, and beneficial way. I work hard to ensure that students are able to learn history while comparing it to their own lives in an effort to ensure that it sticks with them. Each classroom has a purpose of its own, and my goal is to ensure that mine is dedicated to the students feeling not only smart, but also safe. My goal is to ensure that I am helping students to become critical thinkers, more confident students, and to become productive citizens in a world that has already begun to count them out. Working at an alternative school was not a path that I have planned, but each day I am here I feel more needed than the day before. Every day I strive to teach the students that the past is directly related to the future, and it is their job to ensure that history does not repeat itself. This applies to both their lives and the world around them.
How I Learned
Throughout my time at Old Dominion University, I have spent a large amount of time preparing to be the best teacher that I can be. I feel as though this is happening every day and it is due to my education. I have a strong background in culturally responsive teaching, differentiation, and student-centered instruction which are necessary qualities where I teach. I work with students who have been sent away from their home schools due to behavioral problems, and Old Dominion University prepared me for this task more than I had realized while completing the courses. The methods, strategies, and ideas that I learned have directly helped me form into the teacher that I am today. Every day I spend in the classroom reminds me of how important that preparation has been and will continue to be.
My Teaching Mission
My ultimate goal in the classroom is to help as many students as possible not only excel in the classroom, but also when they enter the world as high school graduates. I believe that the majority of students that are sent to alternative schools simply need something that cannot be provided in a large school environment, additional supports provide all of the difference for these students. Working in a program that helps students to graduate on time when they have been behind while simultaneously adjusting behaviors has taught me so much about the different ways that we can help students become productive citizens.