Welcome, I invite you to take a first row seat as I embark on my journey as a first year teacher in a New York City public school. Although I have had prior experience as an educator, this September will be the first time in which I will be employed as a full time teacher. This blog will provide personal accounts of my journey as a first year teacher. I will discuss personal highs and lows, classroom stories, pedagogical approaches, successes and failures, and my stresses while I grow as a budding and blooming pedagogue.
In a few short weeks, I will begin my tenure at a middle school located in the northern section of The Bronx, as a 6th grade science teacher. I’m excited and eager for the opportunity to engage students—in the fascinating discipline of science—who come from the same urban neighborhood as myself.
I realized that I wanted to pursue a career as a teacher during my junior year of college. I was a biochemistry major at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and enrolled in the course biochemistry II. As a biochemistry major, I figured that the biochemistry course would have been important courses in my degree program, but I despised the course. I disliked the biochemistry course not because it was challenging, but mainly because of the professor who taught it. The professor was dull, she never gave explicit instruction when assigning assignments, and never made any real world connections between the content and real life. My biochemistry professor was an expert in her field but couldn’t transfer her excitement for the content to her students. One day, while sitting toward the back of the class in a daze, not participating in the lecture because my frustration level was high, I thought about my purpose in life and what would make me content. I had recently given up my pursuit to become a pharmacist and was considering different careers to pursue. I was in search of a career that would make me happy and keep me satisfied. While sitting in the biochemistry class, I remember thinking to myself that I did not want anyone else to have the same disengaging experience as myself. It was at that very moment when I decided that I wanted to become an educator.
I was already a biology and chemistry tutor at my college, a mentor to younger students and had already worked as a lab assistant multiple times. It was clear to me that my purpose was to educate and mentor students, while providing the best educational experience possible. Moreover, I knew how challenging and discouraging it can be to peruse the sciences as an African American male who didn’t have access to the same resources in secondary school as others with whom I attended and competed in college with. As a freshmen in college, I felt inferior and that I lacked basic scientific knowledge. In college, most of the students in my science classes were White or international students. When I told my friends I was a science major, they always commended me and would say that they did not like science because it was too hard for them, but I knew that within myself I had a love for science. I used that love as fuel to get through all of my challenging science courses. I was tired of feeling inferior; this was when I realized my love for science was real.
As a science educator, I want give young people, especially young people of color, access to more unique science experiences in and outside of school. I will engage students using practices that are culturally relevant like hip-hop pedagogy. I believe that I can share my love and passion for science with others, spark interest in science and give students that boost of confidence they may need in order for them to pursue careers in STEM fields and compete in the global economy. It is truly inspiring to know that I will be teaching the next generation of STEM innovators.
For updates about my experience as a first year teacher follow my blog, which can be access on my website (edmundadjapong.com). Also, follow the hashtag #Eds1stYear on twitter and instagram for photos and quick blurbs about my experience.
