Her Story
About Tammie
I'm a career transitioner who practiced healthcare as a pharmacist before moving into education over 8 years ago. The sole reason I transitioned was because I saw how much my kids were struggling in learning sciences in their middle school years. When I started helping them study science using my extensive background, they were able to be successful in learning higher level sciences. When I saw the impact that it had on my own children, I decided to transition over into education because it was better serving at the time that I was raising my kids. I've been here ever since, and I just like seeing the light bulbs go off when students learn complex sciences. My main area of expertise is chemistry and AP Environmental Science. A typical day involves arriving, lesson planning and prepping, then presenting 90-minute lessons to students that have language barriers and breaking it down step by step for them to get the information on a daily basis. I'm most noted for showing 80% growth in students - the school has never had double-digit growth in students for the subjects that I teach, so I am the second highest growth in the school for AP Environmental Science. I currently work for the College Board as an AP reader for AP Environmental Science, so I'm able to actually see how higher level exams are graded and play a role in assessing students nationwide. My whole goal is to inspire students to pursue higher science-related careers, because it's much needed as well as technology-based careers.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Tammie
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to knowing why I went into education, because a lot of teachers are leaving the profession. I attribute my success to knowing my why, and that is what continues to inspire me, to motivate me and inspire me to continue to give 100%.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice, as far as being an educator, was by one of my former administrators. He said, always resolve issues within your classroom. Never let them leave. And so, any issues that I have in my classroom, I resolve them, because once they leave the classroom, that's when it becomes a bigger problem. So, the best advice was to resolve issues within your classroom.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
A lot of teachers are leaving the profession because they don't feel supported, and there's a lot of changes with AI. A lot of teachers are not willing to learn new tools and new ways of teaching in order to make the kids better adaptive to society as it is existing now. But AI needs to be implemented in the classroom, because that's the way the world is going, and we are serving a generation that is going to be technology-based. We cannot get around it. As educators, we have to be willing to adapt if we're going to stay in this profession. And a lot of teachers choose to leave because they're not willing to adapt and learn new things.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
All of them are very important, because I feel like it only takes one teacher to make a difference, and if one teacher is paying it forward, then that student would pay it forward, and always remember the impact that that teacher had in their life. I still have students reaching out to me for letters of recommendation and thanking me for the impact that I had in their life. If you're shining in your profession, you should be shining outside your profession.
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