This Children’s Book Author and Future Teacher Wants to Help Ignite Joy in Learning

These dual enrollment classes sealed the deal and Campbell became a teacher.

Campbell currently attends American University; teaching fellow programawarded her a full scholarship and provides a variety of resources and support to aspiring educators, including teacher coaching.

Now a senior in college, she hasn’t looked back. Every step of the way, she has further proven that she belongs in her educational community and that this field needs her perspective, compassion, and student-centered approach.

Our Future Teachers series features those who have entered teacher preparation programs and will soon be in their own classrooms, and what inspired them to do this while many of their colleagues choose other fields. Help them understand what attracts them to the field and what motivates them to stay in the field. career path and occupation. This month we feature Riley Campbell.

The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

EdSurge: What is your earliest memory of your teacher?

Riley Campbell: I think my earliest memory is of my first grade teacher. She was very open to her students bringing their own experiences to her classroom. That’s a big concept for first-year students. One of my classmates wrote and published a book in her first grade, apparently with the help of her parents, and she encouraged him to read his stories aloud to the class. allowed. So we were very excited about reading. That was the first time I seriously fell in love with reading.

When did you realize that you also wanted to be a teacher?

Just a little story. So I went to Barrow High School in his 8th Ward here in Washington, DC. Barrow High School and many other high schools in Washington, D.C., have reading programs called “Reading Programs.” Reach Co., Ltd.. This is an after-school program that employs high school students and trains them as tutors to improve the reading comprehension of elementary school students. Although I have worked at Reach for a long time, I never really wanted to become an educator. I just loved money.

But to be honest, that program gave me the opportunity to think, “Oh, I can do this.” In the first year, it was just me and another tutor, and at first we worked with students one-on-one. However, by the end of the year, we both started teaching whole classes of students and I was able to manage it very well. Then I had a hunch that maybe I could do this too.

Reach also has a summer program where students choose a literacy project to work on and present it at the end of the summer. For the second year in a row, I decided to do a book project. I’m an author who has published two of her children’s books, and that experience of writing children’s books helped me go from “Maybe I could do this” to “This is what I really want to do.” It has changed. do. ‘

Still, I wasn’t exactly sure. I heard that teachers’ salaries are not very high, but I wasn’t sure if I had a passion for education or if I just liked working with children.

And in fourth grade I started Dual Enrollment Courses at American University, and I completely fell in love. I took a course called “Schools and Society” and a course called “Social Justice in Urban Education.” I can’t even begin to explain how enlightened I felt taking these classes. It kind of combined my experience as a private tutor with my experience as a dual enrollment high school and college student, and it showed me a side of education that I had never seen before.

I think it was the combination of these experiences that led me to believe that by the time I finished the dual enrollment program, this was definitely what I wanted to do and that teaching was my passion. I can’t say there was anything special, but it was just a series of events that set me on this path.

Please tell us about the two books you have published.

The title of the first book is “Man up!I was a co-author with two other students and also an illustrator. I was 16 years old when this book was published. I wrote this piece in the summer of 2019 as I transitioned from her 10th grade to her 11th grade. My co-author and I wanted to create a book about social justice, especially in light of the current political climate.

we wrote this book for children, especially to let elementary school boys know that their feelings and emotions are valid and there’s nothing wrong with expressing them. I also wanted this book to reflect our city, so the entire story is set in his DC. There are references to city landmarks, including the popular baseball stadium.

The following summer, when COVID-19 hit, we rejoined the program and wanted to publish our second book. We followed the same process and collaborated to write the story, but over Zoom, which was quite difficult.

The second book “Dearou isn’t that different.” was inspired by one of my co-authors, Diarou. (I worked with different co-authors for each book.) She’s new to her Reach, originally from Guinea, Africa, and one of the sweetest people ever. We wrote this story based on her experience as an immigrant, coming to a new country, enrolling in a new school, struggling to connect with people, and finding community through language. It was published in November 2020.

I loved writing stories for kids about finding themselves, being themselves, and expressing themselves in the way they feel most comfortable.

You are also part of American University’s Teaching Fellows Program, right? Please tell me about it.

yes. One of the most surprising things about him is that he guarantees her a job in a DC public school after graduation. Once you earn your degree, knowing that you have a job secured upon graduation takes a complete weight off your shoulders.

It’s also great because as fellows, we get to continue to stay in touch with the faculty who run the fellowship programs. The same people we’ve built relationships with over the past four years will be coaching us for his first five years after graduation. They’ll check on us, that’s a guarantee. I’m really grateful because being a first grade teacher is a little scary.

This fellowship is one of the best things that ever happened to me, and I truly believe it. I love the support of the faculty at AU. They work extremely hard to help us access opportunities. Whatever we need, they make sure we get it. There are no problems with transportation and access.

Our leaders are always checking in on us. The best word to describe this fellowship is “support.” They are literally doing everything they can to make sure we have as much support as possible.

Why do you want to become a teacher?

I want to rekindle, or some might say, light the flame of education. If students enjoy learning from an early age, they will continue to enjoy learning as adults and continue the cycle of learning.

Have your own school experiences been primarily positive or negative, and how does that influence your approach to education?

Even though I had some negative experiences with teachers, even those experiences now inform my decisions as an educator. Because I saw something that I didn’t want my students to experience. For example, my girlfriend’s 4th grade teacher singled out people, yelled at them, and literally split the classroom in half, dividing them into “good students” and “bad students.” Looking back at her, I see that I never want to be like her. I believe in restorative educational practices.

But overall, I think it was a very good experience, especially in high school, because so many people supported me. I was valedictorian when I graduated. I got straight A’s all through high school.

I had a teacher named Ms. Graham, the sweetest woman on the planet. She made me feel like I belonged with her. And she was a new teacher. I first got to know her after I felt attached to her, but it was her first year as her teacher. When she reflects on how confident she was during her first year of teaching, she thinks, “Wow, I could be that teacher and her students wouldn’t even know.” [it’s my first year]. ”

What gives you hope for your future career?

This is the generation behind me.

Last semester, I worked in a 5th grade classroom several times a week in a service learning class, but this was my first time working with an older group. [elementary] student. They reminded me of myself as a child. Almost every student in that class was excited to learn, and even those who weren’t excited were engaged in conversations about why. I was still able to connect with them because of some of the teaching approaches I learned at American University.

Many people today complain about students, but what I see is quite the opposite: kids who are bright and want to learn. You just have to pique their interest.

What gives you pause or anxiety about being a teacher?

One is salary. I know how much I get paid, but that doesn’t mean my teacher’s salary is okay. I’m really lucky because teachers in Washington DC are paid more. [most] teachers across the usa

In fact, I started my service learning class with a different teacher than when I finished. Because within a week of working with her, her first teacher quit. Teachers are overworked and undervalued. Many of them feel stressed and leave the field.

I am really worried that at some point there will not be enough teachers to meet the demands of students and education will deteriorate. I sincerely hope that it doesn’t get to that point.

Why does this field need you now?

There are never enough teachers. Because students are so diverse, having a diverse teacher workforce is critical. My particular experience may not be unique, but it is probably an experience that not one student, or even one other teacher, has ever heard of before. And having diverse perspectives in as many spaces as possible is critical to fostering culturally responsive education and strong classroom communities.