When I was in high school there was a chance that I wasn’t going to graduate. I struggled through school and didn’t feel engaged. However, there were two male teachers that I had in high school who helped me on the right path to graduate. Without them I likely wouldn’t be where I am today.
Stories
From teachers to students
A former student who was an Educators Rising club member in high school persisted through college and graduated with a degree and a teacher license. They returned to the school district and got hired as a high school teacher and is now an Educators Rising Club Advisor, coming full circle from where they started. -Melissa
Why teach?
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela. My overarching goal in education is to help kids to believe that they can do anything they set their minds to. The important reasons why I would like to become a teacher are I want everyone
Mixed-race teacher relates his experience to mixed-race students and builds trust
I’m a mixed race person and I teach creative writing twice a week in a local high school. Many of my students are also mixed race. A lot of the work in our class dealt with identity, culture, and family. At the beginning of the school year, these students were rightfully standoffish. I was new
Learning a new language broadens students’ worldview.
As a Spanish teacher, I had the privilege to introduce students to not only a new language but also new cultures. For some high school students, learning a language seemed like an onerous task that required conjugating verbs and memorizing vocabulary. Yet, I wanted to expose them to more than that and help instill a
Free college credits lead to a lifetime commitment to teaching
(Adapted from speech) I chose this class [Exploring the Teaching Profession] for two reasons. Reason number one was it was an opportunity for me to earn free college credits and reason number two was that I would be getting community service hours. That was it. I didn’t expect much out of the class and wasn’t
Teacher exploration course leads to lessons in diversity and community building
(Adapted from speech) This past fall I took the Exploring the Teaching Profession Course. I took this class because I was considering becoming a teacher. In this class we learned about the importance of establishing positive relationships with students and how to build community in the classroom.From this class I had the opportunity to go
Victory-Reading Recovery
I am thankful everyday that I am a teacher. In my career of 25 years, I have been fortunate to teach in a variety of school districts and elementary grade levels. Currently I am a Reading Recovery teacher in District 196. I am so thankful that I get to work with first grade students and
Ashanti Branch
Ashanti Branch wasn’t originally going to be a teacher. He studied Civil Engineering in college and went on to become a construction project manager. Goals changed, however, when Branch began tutoring struggling students. He found an untapped passion for education and changed careers, becoming a math teacher instead. In his first year of teaching, he
Cameron Yang
Part of our goal at Imprint is to document the journeys of all types of people becoming educators. In our debut post, we sat down with Cameron Yang, design student turned teaching candidate. Cam, tell us about what drew you to design, why you shifted to education, and what similarities you might see between the