Required Blog: Personal Biography and Teching Perspective
Before joining the Mississippi Teacher Corps, I always thought that I would love the notion of teaching a classroom full of bright, youthful, eager to learn students. I had a few teachers along the way that taught me many things from a completely different perspective, and encouraged me to make an impact, no matter what career path I chose. I remember one of my sixth grade teachers, Mr. Bullock. He was incredible. He taught world history, and every single day, his classroom transformed into the setting of the time period we were studying. He brought history to life, and engaged us, as students, in every lesson that he planned. Walking into his classroom was like sitting down at a movie theater for a two and a half hour screen adaptation of an ancient story etched into eternity. He brought the past to life. He humanized names in a textbook. He captured our attention from start to finish, and he encouraged us to do the same, in any and every thing that we do.
A few of my college professors had the same impact on me as well. One in particular challenged us at the end of a semester, to make a difference. I’d say that I’m taking that small bit to heart, in a big way. Dr. Neff was a history professor as well. His focus was Civil War History, and it was the most interesting, most intriguing class that I have ever had the privilege to take. He, also, brought history to life. It was almost as if he had experienced every lesson that he taught on a personal level. There was nothing about anything within the area of Civil War History that he did not know. He could rattle off dates, names, locations, and even military formations like it was nobody’s business. He was like a human encyclopedia. Now, I don’t believe that every teacher needs to be that knowledgeable in his or her subject area, but this is where I come to my point. College, that thing that I have been enrolled in for the past four years of my life, is nothing like high school in a critical needs district. This should seem obvious, but not as much as you would think.
The students within my school have so many lower level educational problems than you could ever imagine. They cannot listen, they cannot pay attention, and they cannot comprehend passages, let alone an entire chapter or section of a textbook. They are not motivated, they are not interested, and their priorities are way out of order, so it’s hard to do exactly what I want in my classroom, and what I remember doing in my old classrooms, when teaching social studies to a group of under-privileged, under grade level students in an under-funded, critical needs school. Every day is a constant struggle trying to teach what I really want to teach. It is a slow process, but it will eventually be a successful process. I’m working out the kinks in my lessons, and am I am attempting alternative assessments for my students on a daily basis. Only time will tell if I can actually be an effective teacher, but for now, I will continue trying my hardest, and hope for the best.
