My Profile

My Profile: Ever since kindergarten, mathematics has been a large part of who I am. Math was something that I found to be both skilled at and passionate about. I see math as something beautiful that can be used to explain the world. Also, the very discrete sections of mathematics are very interesting to me just because I like to see how numbers and functions can work together. This past summer, I had the honor of attending the Governor's Honors Program at Valdosta State University where I majored in mathematics.

One of my favorite things about math is the puzzles that math can create. Beginning at a young age, I was given brain teasers by all of my teachers, and I fell in love with them. Brain teasers were the most exciting part of class to me. These were what sparked my interest in mathematics, and I hope to somehow incorporate brain teasers into my future career.

Throughout my schooling at McEver Elementary, Chestatee Middle School, and currently at Chestatee High School, I have been lucky enough to have some of the best math teachers that Hall County has to offer. Each teacher I have had has inspired me in some way with their passion for learning to want to become a math professor one day.

My Mentorship: When deciding on who my mentor was to be, it was obvious that it had to be Betsy Brooksher. Mrs. Brooksher was my seventh grade math teacher, and she has inspired me the most to follow the career of teaching. Mrs. Brooksher teaches at Chestatee Academy and has been my mentor since the beginning of last school year.

I have two class periods with Mrs. Brooksher. For the first period, I am with her during one of her advanced classes. During class, I grade papers, enter them into Infinite Campus, observe
Mrs. Brooksher's teaching strategies, and answer students' questions. Every once in a while,
Mrs. Brooksher lets me give a brain teaser to the whole class. During the second period, I am with her during her planning period. This allows me to sit in on math department meetings, sit in on entire grade meetings, and discuss with her and other teachers about what life as a teacher is like.

My Future: After this year, I plan on attending a four-year university, hopefully at Georgia Tech. In college, I plan to major in Mathematics, and later, earn a teaching certificate. This mentorship not only looks good on my college application, but also has allowed me to figure out the path of my schooling that we lead me to becoming a teacher.

My Perception of My Mentorship

I've always know that it takes a lot of work to run a school, but I never realized quite how much that workload is. Teachers are some of the hardest working people on the planet! Not only do teachers have the responsibility of educating future generations and preparing them to be contributors to society, but they also have grade (I've learned that there is always something that needs grading), sit through meetings, fill out paperwork, and deal with about 100 kids a day that are all going through puberty, all of this while having to be positive role models. Despite how difficult the job is, teachers are always trying to improve their trade. One way that they do that which surprised me was through high amounts of collaboration. The teachers at Chestatee Academy share tips and assignments, and they give advice to each other on ways to improve their teaching. The math teachers collaborate through a weekly meeting where each teacher discusses where they are at in the curriculum and plans for the current week.
I feel like I've been keeping up well with the work intensity that goes on in the school. However, I feel like I could improve and become a better inter by taking more initiative. A lot of times, I wait for Mrs. Brooksher to give me jobs to do. She is very busy, and it would help her and make me look impressive if I took responsibility and did tasks for her, like grading, on my own.

What I Have Learned So Far

I am learning a lot from my mentorship so far. Mrs. Brooksher is really educating me on how to be a teacher even more than she did last year. This year I'm getting to learn a lot more about grading. Mrs. Brooksher is always busy trying to balance her family, work, and other obligations, so she always has a lot to grade. I've been making her life a lot easier by being able to do some grading while she teaches. By doing that, I have also learned how Infinite Campus works and how teachers use it. I am actually enjoying grading (something I probably won't be saying a few years from now), and I enjoy helping out Mrs. Brooksher. However, there are some things about teaching that I realize are very boring. Teachers have meetings ALL THE TIME! Mrs. Brooksher has a 7th grade math department meeting every Tuesday and usually another type of meeting later on in the week. What makes the meetings boring is that some of them are the same meetings that the teachers have to sit through. They are interesting to me because I am learning more about teaching, but at the same time, I realize that the veteran teachers in the room have been in the same type of meeting at least over 5 times. However, meetings are very important to the education system and the rest of the job is worth having to sit through them. I'm really excited that I am getting to learn so much about my future career now before I even enter college. Chestatee Academy is really being a partner in my education.

Mentorship Narrative

Today at my mentorship, I noticed a lot more things about Chestatee Academy then I usually do. As I walked in the building, I began to observe how every employee was dressed. Everyone was dressed appropriately and professionally, and the teachers who had important meetings that day bumped it up a notch on their wardrobe choices (this included my mentor who had a meeting a central office that day). Some teachers even had their own iconic look, such as Mr. Bennett who dressed everyday like he was on some type of business vacation at the beach. However, the ones who dressed up the most were the administrators. I think their decision to dress nicer than everyone else is partly a subconscious one as it symbolizes a hierarchy within the school.
As I walked down the hall, I began how teachers interacted with each other. Teachers acted towards each other like how their students act towards one another. The teachers cracked jokes and referred to each other by first name unless a student was around. It was eye opening to see the adults who were my teachers 5 or 6 years ago act like regular human beings. Teachers referred to me opposite to how they refer to each other. They like to call me Mr. Passmore and follow it with a chuckle because they are used to calling me by my first name. Teachers treated administrators a little different though. They friendly to them, but talked in a more serious tone and were not as relaxed as they had been when they were talking to another teacher.
When I got to Mrs. Brooksher's class, all of the students greeted me very loudly. I sat down at my desk and began grading some quizzes and entering them into Infinite Campus for Mrs. Brooksher. When I finished that, students called me over to answer their questions. Mrs. Brooksher then walked out of the class to go to the restroom and let me watch over the class. When she arrived back, it was time for me to head back to the high school.
I came back for her planning period. Today, the seventh grade teachers had a meeting with one of the assistant principles. I walked Mrs. Brooksher to the meeting room with a stack a papers in my hand that I would grade for her while I listened to the meeting. When it started, the assistant principle lead the meeting. A sense of teamwork and inspiration was coming from him, and I thought of it to be a little cliché. I began to notice the teachers in the room and how much it reminded me of a classroom. Some teachers were paying close attention and taking notes to what he was saying about the new copier policy this year, some were discussing about something that happened the past weekend, and others (namely Mr. Bennett), out of no disrespect of course, did not care a single bit about what the assistant principle was saying. It was as if the teachers were students and he was the teacher. I assumed that it was alright to act most anyway you wanted in a meeting, as long as you understood what to do and did not break any rules. I finished grading and had to leave before the meeting finished.