Donelle Phillips

I attribute my success to my mom. She's also an educator and has been an early childhood educator for about 32 years. She was actually the one that inspired me to also get into the field. Sometimes we tell ourselves, oh my gosh, she deserves the world, and I just want to do everything for her. I owe everything to her. I'm trying to work my way up to the top to keep making her proud and to give her a better life. My mom is the reason for everything I've accomplished.

The best career advice I received was to marry the profession young. One of my friends told me this when I started teaching at a young age. He said, if this is something that you want to do, marry it young. What he meant was to get qualified while I'm young - go to college, get my degree in education, do everything while I'm young, because this seemed to be something I loved. He told me to do it while I'm young, and if I know I'm going to stay in the education field, just do it and marry the profession young. I did that, and by the time I was in my late twenties, I had over 10 years of experience with all these qualifications. I do not regret marrying the profession young.

I would let them know that if you don't love it, don't do it. Teaching and education, whether it's teaching, lecturing, or tutoring, can be very challenging and very demanding. The pay is not the best. Some people say they want to get into teaching because we have the summer off and all the likes, but it's very trying. You have to want this, you have to love it, you have to want to stay in it, not just for the perks of it. It has to be your calling. I've had friends and colleagues that taught for 6 months or a year and then they just quit. Try to see if you think this is your calling. Think about if this is something you're going to do in the long run, because kids are so big on relationships. When I started working in Washington, D.C., I learned that most of the kids had teachers that started and then left in the middle of the year or in the middle of a term. They were just accustomed to people coming and leaving, and it really bothered them and caused them to act out. They cherish knowing that you're going to be there for them and stick with it. If you don't want to stick it out when the bad times come, just leave it alone and do something else.

I think one of the biggest challenges is that things have become so easily accessible for the kids. They are kind of dwindling when it comes to thinking and processing things on their own. They just rely heavily on technology. You ask them to do a simple multiplication, they want to run and grab the computer or grab the calculator. I'm happy that technology is widely available, but I think we need to do something to not have them so dependent on using these devices and technology, because it's causing them to not think anymore. They just open up ChatGPT or something else. The kids are relying so heavily on the use of technology, and it's causing them to not really use their own brain. I literally asked a 9th grader last year what is 5 minus 4, and she was hellbent on getting a calculator. In terms of opportunities, there are so many vacancies for teachers and so many scholarships for educators. If it's something that you love, there are so many opportunities - training programs, fellowships, and more. With a simple Google search, you can find several scholarship opportunities and vacancies to start your teaching career. It has its pros and cons, its ups and its downs, but as long as your heart is in it, you're going to succeed and stick it through.

I value respect and communication a lot. I value respect, probably that's top tier. When I moved to the United States, I experienced a culture shock and realized that these kids can be so very disrespectful. But after a while of understanding who they are and where they're coming from, it was easy to instill that value of respect. Now the very first day that I interact with them, the first day of them taking my class, I tell them that we have to learn to respect each other. I lay out the rules - as long as you respect me, I'm going to respect you, we respect each other, and it makes life so much easier. We don't have to always like each other, we don't always have to agree with each other, but we have to learn to respect each other. I also value communication, because if something is bothering you, you have to communicate. Respect and communication are the two top things that I value the most when it comes to both work and personal life.