Sahuaro’s newest Econ student teacher, Ms. Odom, is changing it up in the class room with a different approach to teaching; she’s trying to teach by doing in-class activities for all three learning types. So far she has started class with some kind of hands on example and ends with some writing or reading, instead of sticking with just reading from an econ book or giving us worksheets. Ms. Odom has been trying to keep all students engaged and not just going through the motions, but why did she even become a student teacher? When I asked her why she wanted to become a teacher she said, “Well when I was in school I always was very studious and understood a lot of things right away.”

Her understanding and getting things so easily made her get bored with some teachers, she remembers one kid in particular who was very charismatic and popular and seemed to have it all, but not an easy time with school. Ms. Odom had to partner with him a couple times and said, “He just had no confidence that he was able to learn anything.” She felt bad and knew he was completely capable; he actually inspired her to pursue teaching and made her passionate about being able to teach people. She said, “You know everybody is capable of learning stuff, it’s just finding the right way, the right strategy.” The teacher that made a difference in her life was her AP chemistry teacher junior year. Ms. Odom detests science and went into the class thinking, “Well at least I’ll get my college credit”. The teacher for that class was so good that not only was Ms. Odom understanding it, but she was loving it. Ms. Odom’s goal is to be as good as that chemistry teacher and not only get the material across so that all students understand it easily, but make them want to learn it and not just be there for the credit.