Grizzlies welcome Mrs. Chisholm onto our campus
Photo by Joseph Kamandy
Mrs. Chisholm joins our campus as a new member of the ELA department.
January 10, 2020
After patiently awaiting the arrival of their new teacher, the students of room 405 welcome Mrs. Chisholm onto our campus with open arms. With the coming of their new teacher, students are now getting back on track and preparing for the upcoming AP test.
Having been a teacher for eight years, Mrs. Chisholm admits that Mission Hills’ environment is like no other, enabling her to be transparent about her insecurities as a new addition to the ELA department.
“I was nervous about being back in the classroom with such a large group of students. I didn’t really know what to expect, especially with AP since I’ve never taught that before. I didn’t know how I was going to be received by the students, but it was so great and everyone was so welcoming,” Mrs. Chisholm said.
Mission Hills class sizes are larger than most, but instead of focusing on the overwhelming amount of essays to grade, Mrs. Chisholm looks on the bright side of the situation.
“I have taught way smaller last sizes before, but I think it is really great to have the diversity that we have here. Students are able to hear different perspectives because of the larger population and that is not something I had at the other schools,” Mrs. Chisholm said.
Although it is her first year teaching an AP class, Mrs. Chisholm is adapting fast to this foreign curriculum, including the new six-point rubric. She is working alongside the other AP teachers and enrolling in webinars in order to learn more so she can help her students.
“I know students are nervous and I feel for them. I am trying to find places that I can go so I can learn more about how to best serve the students and prepare them for the test. I have reached out to the AP teachers here and out-of-state, so I can learn more and bring that information back to the students,” Mrs. Chisholm said.
In order to establish her classroom rules and norms, Mrs. Chisholm reflected on her past teachers to provide a source of inspiration. Mrs. Chisholm was motivated to be a teacher because she wanted to emulate teachers that pushed her and learn from the mistakes of the teachers she did not like.
“The negative role models in my life were teachers who shut students down. They didn’t really give anyone a chance to express themselves in any way. Class was a very cold place where we would just take notes and were being spoken to instead of being included. I also had teachers who were just tired of teaching and you could tell. But the really amazing teachers I had were the teachers who made us go outside our comfort zone. They were so kind and that’s why my overarching rule is that we should be respectful to everyone,” Mrs. Chisholm said.
