Bryan ISD

August 2019 - March 2020

Summary: Teacher (8th Grade Math)

Collaborated with fellow instructors to create lessons aligned with the scope and sequence of curriculum.

Applied differentiated instruction to meet the needs of students with varied academic backgrounds.

Teaching and Lesson Planning

There is an art and science to teaching. There is an abundance of research on effective methods and strategies to help learners of every background grasp new concepts and apply them. However, building the personal connection is the real key to reaching the students.

One of the challenges of teaching is designing lessons that encompass all the specific bits of knowledge students are expected to acquire in a method that gets is to all make sense and fall into place. Managing that is feat in an of itself, but making it interesting and engaging is the real challenge.

I enjoyed finding new unique ways of presenting content to my students, while also providing enough structure to run an (often overfull) classroom without crumbling into chaos.

Being a Middle School Math Teacher

Anyone who works in education, knows someone that does, or is a parent of a student, can tell you that American education is in a rough spot. Teachers are burdened with too many students, reporting requirements, and often not enough pay or classroom resources. The federal, state, and district agencies keep piling on requirements for student standards and enough testing to bury even the most dedicated scholar. Thus preventing any natural curiosity from being nurtured, and making learning a chore.

I wanted to be a bright spot in students' day and a sign of hope that math can actually be fun and interesting to explore, but the system that is in place is not something I could work under. I had to walk away, but I know I made a real impact on some students lives. That is something I will carry with me.