My Mechanics - Collaboration
"Our duty is to encourage everyone in his struggle to live up to his highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the truth." Swami Vivekananda
I can't tell you how many times this struggle bus has ventured from the path it was supposed to be on, hit a pothole, swerved off the road, ran out of gas and literally was driving on autopilot without having an autopilot function. If it wasn't for the people who knew how to drive, and knew how to build me up as a driver, my students and I would not have made it here safely. If it wasn't for these people, my bus would have been undrivable.
First, my main mechanics. Ms. Tolanda Ramsey is an English II teacher at our school. From my first day, she was a huge asset in my classroom. Though I couldn't collaborate with her on content, she was a huge help with classroom management and just my sanity. Ms. Ramsey and I lead Student Government together at WPHS and she is the first person to jump up when someone needs a hand. She walked down to my room at times to help look at my class setup so we could see what seating arrangement better for classes that I had trouble with my first year. She was there when I had questions about specific students learning styles and personalities to know better how to handle situations in my classroom. Ms. Ramsey is part of the reason I'm still here. She has been such a huge blessing that I couldn't be more thankful for.
Within the science department I have been able to lean on three people in the past two years. The first, Mr. Hunter Holt! Hunter, an MTC alum, was the first person I would run to in my first year with questions. He sent me lesson plan templates, kept me up to date with schedule changes, and has been the most helpful person with resources for my chemistry class. I couldn't have made it through my first or second year without Hunter's help. Second, Coach Chris Frazier and I both taught physical science and we were both in our first year of high school teaching last year. We collaborated quite a bit on what units to teach when, and how to approach teaching certain physics topics. Physics was never my strong suit in college and Chris really helped me grasp and understand some concepts I was worried about teaching. Aside from collaborating on content, Coach Frazier has been a constant ray of sunshine. He always knows how to make me laugh or brighten my day and he is always there if you need anything. Mrs. Watson is also a teacher I've been thankful for. She an extremely poised and professional teacher who cares about her students and their education. She filled Mr. Holt's job when he left for Ole Miss, and she has been really helpful in my second year. I started teaching chemistry this year and she has tons of ideas for labs, ways to teach things differently, classroom management tools and resources that I would never have thought to use. She has really kept me sane this year when I've been stressed about my chemistry class.
Two other very important people who need mentioned are Mrs. Alora Wheeler and Ms. Ashley Ingram. These two were my roommates during my MTC experience. Though they were both biology teachers, they were huge emotional supports during my time in the program. I don't think I could have made it through without their encouraging words during some of my toughest day. They gave me the strength, courage, confidence, and the occasional bowl of ice cream to get through these past two years. I would be lost without all of these wonderful people.
I can't tell you how many times this struggle bus has ventured from the path it was supposed to be on, hit a pothole, swerved off the road, ran out of gas and literally was driving on autopilot without having an autopilot function. If it wasn't for the people who knew how to drive, and knew how to build me up as a driver, my students and I would not have made it here safely. If it wasn't for these people, my bus would have been undrivable.
First, my main mechanics. Ms. Tolanda Ramsey is an English II teacher at our school. From my first day, she was a huge asset in my classroom. Though I couldn't collaborate with her on content, she was a huge help with classroom management and just my sanity. Ms. Ramsey and I lead Student Government together at WPHS and she is the first person to jump up when someone needs a hand. She walked down to my room at times to help look at my class setup so we could see what seating arrangement better for classes that I had trouble with my first year. She was there when I had questions about specific students learning styles and personalities to know better how to handle situations in my classroom. Ms. Ramsey is part of the reason I'm still here. She has been such a huge blessing that I couldn't be more thankful for.
Within the science department I have been able to lean on three people in the past two years. The first, Mr. Hunter Holt! Hunter, an MTC alum, was the first person I would run to in my first year with questions. He sent me lesson plan templates, kept me up to date with schedule changes, and has been the most helpful person with resources for my chemistry class. I couldn't have made it through my first or second year without Hunter's help. Second, Coach Chris Frazier and I both taught physical science and we were both in our first year of high school teaching last year. We collaborated quite a bit on what units to teach when, and how to approach teaching certain physics topics. Physics was never my strong suit in college and Chris really helped me grasp and understand some concepts I was worried about teaching. Aside from collaborating on content, Coach Frazier has been a constant ray of sunshine. He always knows how to make me laugh or brighten my day and he is always there if you need anything. Mrs. Watson is also a teacher I've been thankful for. She an extremely poised and professional teacher who cares about her students and their education. She filled Mr. Holt's job when he left for Ole Miss, and she has been really helpful in my second year. I started teaching chemistry this year and she has tons of ideas for labs, ways to teach things differently, classroom management tools and resources that I would never have thought to use. She has really kept me sane this year when I've been stressed about my chemistry class.
Two other very important people who need mentioned are Mrs. Alora Wheeler and Ms. Ashley Ingram. These two were my roommates during my MTC experience. Though they were both biology teachers, they were huge emotional supports during my time in the program. I don't think I could have made it through without their encouraging words during some of my toughest day. They gave me the strength, courage, confidence, and the occasional bowl of ice cream to get through these past two years. I would be lost without all of these wonderful people.