My Biggest Teaching Accomplishment

Day 9 Prompt: Write about one of your biggest accomplishments in your teaching that no one knows about (or may not care).

I think this is a difficult prompt for teachers, because the majority of teachers I have worked with don't like to brag about their accomplishments. They all appreciate when something they do is noticed and recognized, but they won't put it out there themselves. I feel like we have all had so many success stories that no one knows about and most of them are specific students that have a history of failure that found success in our classroom. I have 2 things that I am particularly proud of that I do not talk about much, if at all.

The first is a specific student success story. A couple of years ago I had a classified student take my AP calculus class. I had taught him in precalculus, so I knew he was classified and was aware of his test-taking problems. He was extremely hard-working, but took forever on tests because of his problems processing information. Going into the six week AP test prep sessions, I didn't think there was any way in the world he would get a five on the test. I would have been elated to see a four when scores came out in July. About 2 weeks into prep, he started staying 2-3 hours after school a few days a week practicing and asking questions. He was also doing practice tests at home. By the time the test came, I thought he could get a good score, but was worried about the pressure of the timed test, even though he got extended time. The proctor that sat with him told me he used every minute of his extended time and was working the whole time. When scores came back in July and I saw a five by his name, I was really excited. His success has helped me a ton by realizing that you can't write anybody off. Sometimes you want to focus on the best, but you can't forget that anyone can get there.

My second accomplishment is about my student teacher from a couple of years ago. He started out quiet and passive, like many student teachers. As he started taking over classes, it seemed like he was trying to do exactly what I was doing and say exactly what I was saying. As the semester progressed, he came into his own both with his personality and teaching style and the students really liked him. At the end of the semester a math teacher retired and he was hired for the position. I was later told that it was the strongest group of math candidates my supervisor had ever interviewed and my student teacher was hands-down the best of the group. In his first year of teaching, he taught 5 sections of geometry, which was the course with the highest failure rate in the school every year. He finished the year with one of the lowest failure rates in the department the students were successful and confident coming out of his class. His success is not all because of me, but I do feel like I was a big help for him in finding his way in the classroom. He is using a lot of my favorite strategies in his classes and I have begun stealing ideas from him too. It's cool to know that I had a hand in the quality teaching going on across the hall.