Profiles

What have you been up to since graduating from Bowdoin?

After BTS, I realized I had a strong passion for literacy and wanted to learn more about how to support students as they develop their reading and writing skills. Therefore, I decided to give elementary education a shot! I am working as a preschool teacher in Boston and am working towards my early childhood education endorsement in Maine.

Why education?

I chose education because I believe that everyone should have access to a life that is of quality and fulfilling. The first step towards that is Education. I play my role by ensuring that my students develop skills to help them succeed in life such as advocacy, math skills, literacy, and self-awareness.

Where was your practicum placement?

I was placed with 7th grade English at Brunswick Junior High.

What have you been up to since graduating from Bowdoin?

After graduating, I spent some time backpacking Southeast Asia and then moved to Boston, MA, to start my first year of teaching. I am a high school world history and street law teacher at Lynn Classical High School and love it so far. The first year of teaching is not always easy, but seeing students grow is the most rewarding experience. In about a month, I will start coaching JV boys' volleyball at the school, and I look forward to building more connections with students.

Why education?

Education quickly became my passion after taking an Introduction to Education with Professor Santoro during my first year at Bowdoin. I loved reflecting on my own educational experiences and felt inspired to make public schools a better place. I knew I wanted to enter a field where I could interact with others and enact positive change, so being a teacher became my goal throughout college. I love working to improve outcomes for all students and build strong relationships that will have long-lasting impacts.

Where was your practicum placement?

My practicum placement was at Brunswick Junior High, where I learned so much from my mentor teacher and incredible staff.

What have you been up to since graduating from Bowdoin?

I have been working at Westbrook High School in Maine, where I am teaching physics and engineering.

Why education?

For so many reasons, but I think the primary one is that it's a space full of hope and change. I especially feel passionate about teaching science, not only because I love science, but because science education is (and should be) rapidly changing at the moment, which is a really exciting thing to be a part of. I have loved the creative aspects of teaching, as well as making connections with kids, and every day of my work has meaning.

Where was your practicum placement?

I was working in a 10th-grade physics classroom at Casco Bay High School in Portland.

Why do you want to teach English?

"Growing up I liked school a lot, but something I started to struggle with in high school was I lost sight of why I liked school. I was still working really hard, getting good grades, and doing all the right things, but mostly because I wanted to go a to a good college. I lost the fun of it, and the actual enjoyment of the process.

When I got to Bowdoin, I originally wanted to major in English and economics, and I started English courses and economics courses. I liked them both but I realized when I went to English class, I loved it. I enjoyed myself; I had a lot of fun and I loved doing the work for it. Versus economics, where I was like, 'This is interesting,' but I didn't feel the same kind of love or passion for it.

Then I started to think about how to frame my learning in college. I started to think about what I could do with English, and I remembered first having this thought in high school: 'Wouldn't it be fun to be a teacher and teach English?'"

Why did you enroll in BTS as an undergraduate?

"I started to look at Bowdoin's education department, which I knew nothing about, and one of the first things I saw was Bowdoin Teacher Scholars. I had just assumed you had to do certain things and take certain steps after college to do whatever is necessary to become a teacher, which I was okay with, but when I realized that I can spend that time here and jump into this and be in classes and engage in student teaching and be part of a cohort of people doing the same thing, I was like, 'Yeah, this is something I want to do, so why not now?'"

Why do you want to be a teacher?

"I believe that educators can disrupt oppressive systems by directly supporting individuals. If education is about justice, then it is about serving people. I hope to be part of a team of educators who create classrooms where students and teachers harness the power of humility and connection to work towards a collective vision of justice for Americans of all identities."

Why did you choose to enroll in BTS as an undergraduate?

"I chose to do Bowdoin Teacher Scholars as an undergrad because I loved my field placements in earlier education courses and really saw student teaching my last semester as a good transition period between being a full-time college student and being a full-time teacher."

Why do you want to be a teacher?

"The reason I want to teach is because I want to make public education more culturally sensitive, aware, and inclusive, and to change how we think about language instruction. I want to bridge languages and show students how Arabic and Spanish are so similar, for example, and to teach kids not to see something as foreign but as normal and part of your identity, that language is part of our humanity. 

Also, because of my background, teaching is a calling I have. I arrived and lived in this place [Maine] as a refugee, and I wanted to know what my purpose was after leaving my home country, [Iraq]. Also, if you are presented an opportunity to stay in your home community and flourish there, that is worth a million bucks!"

Why diid you choose to enroll in BTS as a post-graduate?

"I did it after graduating for a number of reasons. I was doing a double major with Hispanic Studies and Education. After I went abroad in the spring of 2020, I had to come back from Spain early, in March, and those credits weren’t counted toward my major. So I was a little delayed with my Spanish. [My advisor Doris Santoro] said the post-grad option is a neat opportunity because there is stipend—which is huge when you’re living in Portland. I don’t think any of the other training programs offer that. Also, I felt more mature in my teaching philosophy and how I wanted to teach."

What have you been up to since graduating from Bowdoin?

After graduating from Bowdoin I spent 6 months working on a farm in Montana before heading back to Maine to do Bowdoin Teacher Scholars in the spring of 2021. After completing the program I spent two years teaching 6th grade social studies at Gardiner Regional Middle School. My first real experience teaching was incredibly challenging but affirmed my love for education. After two years at that school, I decided to get a masters degree and move to Seattle! I am now a student at the University of Washington getting a masters in Education Leadership and Policy with a focus in Social and Cultural Foundations.

Why education?

I have always believed that justice-based education is the best long term solution to inequality. Being in a number of school settings it has become even more clear how powerful education can be when focused on justice and how harmful it can be when it continues to uphold the oppressions of our world. I feel so privileged to get to be a part of that struggle to make schools more equitable places.

Where was your practicum placement?

I did my student teaching at Hall-Dale Middle School.

Where was your Student Teaching placement?

Deer Isle-Stonington High School, Deer Isle, Maine

Following my graduation from Bowdoin in May of 2015, I moved to Deer Isle, Maine and worked at Deer Isle-Stonington High School as a paraprofessional until shifting into my student teaching practicum there in Spring 2016. I was able to teach two different courses in U.S. History. One of them covered traditional content, while the other was a team taught, interdisciplinary effort that was part of the high school’s offerings in their Marine Studies Pathway. Entitled “U.S. History Through the Fisheries,” the course sought to integrate skills and content knowledge of history, English, and marine trades. Throughout my practicum, I collaborated every day with my team of teachers and developed new curricula with the intent of giving each student as personalized a learning experience as possible. While I leave my student teaching experience with knowledge of how to develop better lesson plans or modified assessments, perhaps my most important take away is to remember the process of reciprocal transformation that occurs with teaching and learning. In order for learning to take place, I must first remember to ask not what I have to offer my students, but what we have to offer each other.

Why Education?

I first began to think about a career in teaching after my sophomore year of high school. I had always been a “good” student in the sense that I achieved high grades and was very studious. That year, however, my history teacher became the first to really challenge me to embrace failure and to get out of my learning comfort zone. His approach to teaching and assessing history was far different than anything else I had encountered to that point in my life – he made me actively bring the learning to him, rather than having me be a passive agent in the classroom where he imparted knowledge of the content onto me. After taking his class, I was hooked on history with a new sense of excitement and ownership of how and what I could learn. From that point on, I began to think that becoming a history teacher would not only allow me to continue exploring a subject that I found fascinating and exciting, but more importantly it could give me the opportunity to inspire students to develop confidence as learners in the same way that my teacher did for me.

At Bowdoin, I have taken advantage of opportunities provided to develop an understanding of and skills in educational policy, philosophy, and practice in a wide range of contexts from urban to rural. I took part in two Alternative Spring Break trips focused on learning about urban education, one as a participant in New York City, and another as a trip leader in Washington, D.C. For my pre-practicum experience, I was placed in a tenth grade Civics and Government class at Falmouth High School in a suburb of Portland, Maine.

Why Education?

I attended inner city public schools in Memphis through primary and secondary school whose population consisted of mostly low-income African American students. As a student in elementary school I was classified as “gifted.” Because of this I was afforded many opportunities many of my classmates were not such as extracurricular activities, summer programs, and more academic enrichment in general. My teachers viewed me as superior to my peers because they saw me as possessing some motivation that allowed me to be more academically successful than them. I saw my peers as lacking something to motivate them and so for college I was determined to leave Memphis, determined to find something better for me.

The two education classes at Bowdoin that really changed my mindset about my community and inspired me to pursue teaching were Education 1101 (Contemporary Issues in Education) and Education 2203 (Educating all Students). These classes made me realize a few things. First, these classes made me realize that I was no better than my classmates back home, I was just good at “doing school." I was able to sit in my chair, do whatever my teacher told me, memorize facts, and follow directions without complaint. Even when I wasn’t actually learning anything my teachers saw me as the ideal student because they did not have to worry about me misbehaving. Second, I realized that my classmates didn’t just have a lack of motivation that was keeping them from succeeding. For minority students in low income areas, there are larger societal structures that work against them including attending schools with subpar facilities and resources, racism, and classism that provides unequal opportunities in the education system. The last thing my education classes made me realize is that my community needed excellent teachers to counteract the effects of inequality and that I wanted to be a teacher so I could show my students that they were all valuable whether they were good at “doing school” or not.

In the spring semester of 2015, I will be completing the Bowdoin Teacher Scholars program. This program will no doubt give me invaluable experiences in curriculum, planning, management, and assessing student learning that I hope to bring to my first year of teaching as a 2015 Teach for America corps member in Memphis, TN.

You can watch a video of Dominique's student teaching portfolio defense here.

Why math education?

Though I come from a family of educators, I did not realize the passion I had for teaching until I arrived at Bowdoin and enrolled in Contemporary American Education. I had always loved math and science, and figured I would study physics or environmental studies while at Bowdoin. After delving into a study of the major issues that historically and currently affect the educational landscape in America, I was engrossed in the philosophy, politics, successes, and failures of our education system.

Upon continuing my studies in education, I only became more inspired. I began to further reflect on the impact that countless teachers have had on my life, and my only desire was to reciprocate that feeling for future students. What proved perhaps most beneficial to me was how the students and faculty in the Education Department embodied a tremendously holistic view of teaching and learning. We never saw ourselves as distinct groups of just math teachers or just English teachers, but a group of peers with a common passion. This enabled us to focus on addressing the major challenges of education from a unique collective mindset, while contemplating our disciplines from a remarkably integrated viewpoint.

It would be difficult for me to say a single course influenced me more than another, because each one was uniquely special. The understandings I gained from Mindfulness in Education were distinct from those gained in Curriculum, just as the insights from Educational Psychology were distinct from those of Teaching and Learning. Together, the structure of the courses in the Education Department spiraled to a culmination with the practicum experience, which I feel enabled me to leave Bowdoin as an educator equipped to meet the challenges faced in 21^st century classrooms.

ALUMNI UPDATE: Cully is teaching high school mathematics at the Washington Waldorf School in Bethesda, Maryland.

Where was your placement?

Greely High School (Cumberland, ME)

What have you been up to since graduating from Bowdoin?

Since graduating from Bowdoin, I completed the Teacher Scholars program as a post-grad and then began teaching English at Yarmouth High School for three years. After that, I enrolled in the Education Policy PhD program at the University of Virginia, where I specialized in the use of data science toolsets in education research. In my current position as the Director of Data Science, Research, and Analytics at Common App, I support our organization in identifying, measuring, and alleviating barriers to higher education access on a national level using data and rigorous social sciences research.

Why education?

I've loved teaching from the moment I got to try it myself, and I firmly believe that education is one of the most important levers in creating healthy communities, individuals, and societies more broadly. We are shaped in so many ways by our educational opportunities, and I think it is our duty to ensure that all people are able to access the educational resources they need to move forward in their lives.

Where was your practicum placement?

For my 301/303 it was with Amy Russell at Brunswick High School. For my student practicum during Teacher Scholars, it was with Alberto Morales at Casco Bay High School.

Where was your placement?

Greely High School (Cumberland, ME)
Subject area: French 2 and French 3

Why Education?

One of the many reasons I came to Bowdoin was for the Bowdoin Teacher Scholars program. The fact that I could, as an undergrad, become a certified French teacher was immensely appealing to me. Starting with ED 1101 my very first semester here, my interest in education studies only continued to grow as I learned about the vast and varied challenges of educating children. I went from simply wanting to communicate and hopefully transfer my enormous passion and enthusiasm for the French language and Francophone studies, to wanting to understand the differences and the tensions between what education should and what education does look like in America. My experience studying abroad in Paris last year only solidified this interest, as I compared and contrasted the French and American educational systems. I started to question my own definitions of education and teaching, and began to analyze my own experiences as a public school student. What does it mean to be a successful student? How do we demonstrate acquired knowledge? How do we successfully engage students with the material at hand? What is the role of a teacher, both in and beyond the walls of the classroom? And so on. As my interest in education studies grew, I knew that the only way to truly understand the issues behind these questions was to get in front of the classroom myself. I know that my experiences as a full-time student teacher at Greely will help me to answer some of these questions, but will also open up new paths of inquiry and create even bigger challenges. I look forward to tackling these challenges with the help of the Education department here at Bowdoin and of my cooperating teachers at Greely. Sometime after graduation, I hope to obtain a master's degree in Education Policy so that I can work towards solving some of these issues facing the American educational system today.

ALUMNI UPDATE: After a year of teaching English in France, Rachel has returned to the States to pursue a Master's degree in policy at Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Where was your placement?

Casco Bay High School (Portland, ME)

Subject area: 11^th grade Social studies

Why Education?

I’ve been interested in teaching long before I came to Bowdoin. In fact, beginning as early as middle school I envisioned myself as a teacher—I even kept notes on lessons or activities from school that I particularly enjoyed, imagining that I would one day use them in my own classroom! As someone who sincerely enjoys connecting with others and thrives off of communication, I always thought of teaching as the ideal profession. At Bowdoin, my education courses widened my perspective and challenged my assumptions; they forced me to see teaching as far more complicated and the role as teacher as far more nuanced (and difficult) than my younger self had always imagined.  But my coursework also reinforced my desire to be a teacher; it expanded my reasoning for wanting to teach from a largely abstract desire to a defined understanding of what was important in the classroom and the crucial part that teachers play in shaping this learning environment. Through one class at Bowdoin, I had the opportunity to work individually with a high school student who was struggling in class and at risk of failing. Her trouble lay in transition to a new school, trouble at home, and difficulty processing in the traditional classroom environment. My experience with her reinforced the mantra that every student can learn and that individual student needs are highly important. Although she has since graduated and is taking classes at a local community college, we are still close today and see each other often, a constant reminder of why I want to teach. Now confident that I want to go on to be a teacher, Bowdoin Teacher Scholars provides an amazing opportunity that allows me to pursue my long-time goal of being a teacher while still supported by the Bowdoin community and the Bowdoin education department. Knowing that after graduation I want to be involved in public schools, getting Maine State certified through Bowdoin Teacher Scholars is the perfect beginning to what I hope is a long career in education!

ALUMNI UPDATE:  Molly has recently moved to New York City following a year as an Inclusion Associate at Codman Academy in Boston.