Current Job Title: 4th grade teacher - inner city
Current Place of Employment: Napier Enhanced Option School
City & State: Nashville, Tennessee
ACU undergraduate major or degree: BS Speech/Language Pathology (1996)
Degrees from other schools: Elementary Ed. 1-8 - Mid.TN State Univ. (1999)
Briefly describe your job. This is my 4th year as an inner city schoolteacher. I am responsible for teaching all subjects to students who are on average 2 to 3 levels below their grade level. I am also responsible for their physical safety - which in this setting is a critical issue. In addition to in-school responsibilities, I lead a monthly volunteer program with my students where we help clean up their neighborhood.
What courses were beneficial in preparation for your career? Both my speech path background and my primary education courses were helpful in preparing for this field. All language development courses and courses that focus on language disorders have been very useful and relevant. As a teacher, the more applicatory classes and your student teaching are the most valuable. As for working in an inner city setting, it was hands-on volunteer time - not classes, that will help you understand the cultural differences of the poor. Any cultural classes offered would be beneficial to understanding the "rules" of this setting. Read anything you can find by Marva Collins (expert on educating in poverty settings).
How did your career path lead you to your current position? I worked in Speech Path for a year, but decided I was more interested in the actual "hands-on" teaching aspect rather than the gingival therapy. Speech Path and education are very intertwined, so it was an easy transition. I went back to school in Tennessee, got my Ed. degree, and have been teaching ever since.
What does it take to be a Christian practitioner in your field? Patience and humility. You will start off with grand dreams of what you can accomplish. Those dreams will soon be obliterated! You will disappoint yourself in how you handle situations as a "Christian". There have been many nights when I came home crying over how UN-Christian-like I had behaved to a child. But as soon as you start to identify with Jesus as a teacher, and the ways he taught, you will SLOWLY begin to see the impact and the small victories that are truly God's. This is an impossible setting to teach - you will only experience success if you allow God to do the impossible. He WILL do it, and you will be amazed.
What do you love about your job? I have the best job in the world! I get to introduce ideas, facts, and concepts to children who have never heard them before. To see those "Lightbulbs" go off in their heads is a priceless thing! I work with children with such strength and such vulnerability. I get to be one of the few constancies in their lives.
What advice would you give to a student considering a career in your field? Go for it - it's the best job! Don't be discouraged at initial failure. Keep trying and your persistence and reliance on God will take you where you never imagined. You will never be a millionaire. But I have friends who are almost millionaires and miserable, while I get along comfortably and am happy each morning to go to my job. It is not for everyone, and that is OK. Rich kids need to be educated and ministered to also! But if you DO feel a tug in your heart towards the ghetto, rural settings, or any other low-income area, at least try it out.
