Q&A

Describe your first day of teaching. What emotions were you feeling?

My first day of teaching was exhausting but rewarding. I was very nervous that my student bingo game would fail because it required my students to find someone who had traveled outside the country—I wasn’t sure how much my students traveled. And then, one of my students approached me and asked if I could sign her bingo sheet. Ironically, my students helped break the ice for me and made my first day inviting, and the rest of my time with them was a positive experience.

What would you consider your biggest success as a teacher?

My greatest success was spending extra time with my students before school, during lunch, and after school. Students were always in my classroom - I could never count on having a free prep hour except in the middle of the school day. And even then some would wander into my classroom, and I would have to tell them to go back to class (often after talking through what was bothering them). But the extra time paid off. I got to help one of my students, who had failed algebra twice, learn how to solve a quadratic equation and hear about another student who graduated and later became an educator. I learned so much about my students, heard stories about their lives, met family members, and went to community gatherings. I believe those moments were my biggest success as a teacher.

Was leaving the classroom a difficult decision to make?  

Leaving the classroom was difficult because I really loved teaching and helping my students grow academically and socially. But I felt the underlying issues at my school were not within my control, and I wanted to affect change at a higher level. So when the opportunity to work in a policy setting came along, I decided to take it.

What parallels can you draw between your time as a corps member and your current role?

Being a former teacher has helped me build credibility with policymakers, not only because I learned how to communicate and explain issues in an understandable manner but also because of my perspective from the classroom. Funnily enough, teaching lawmakers about policy issues is pretty similar to describing learning objectives to students.