Learning has always been important to me, but learning what the school was teaching, not so much. That slowly changed as I got older and as I had more choice in what classes I took. My experiences taught me that the teacher plays a more essential role in how much I learn and engage than the class subject. Teacher Kyle Smith and his Senior Social class surprised me with how engaging, thought provoking, and pleasant it became.
“One of the important things is making connections with the students,” Smith said.
His attitude on the first day made that very clear. The way Smith’s easy going attitude and sense of humor eased the classroom atmosphere the first day of school made it very clear to me how comfortable I would be the rest of the school year.
“When you have that connection, students buy into what you’re doing better,” Smith said.
This is definitely true in my case, as I’ve struggled with academics my whole life and finding a teacher that could bring out my passion for learning within a school setting changed my whole relationship with academics. When things got overwhelming, it was the trust he had in me that kept me going.
“I want to push them to where I think they should be, but understand that students have changed,” Smith said.
Smith chooses a diverse array of assignment styles and teaching materials, with the goal of giving every student the chance to shine. He intentionally includes reading, writing, verbal, and visual content in his classes. This means that there’s something for every learning style to shine in. I’ve definitely gained a better understanding of my own learning style through seeing what works best for me in his class.
His style of teaching created space for me to experience a little of what college may be like. I wasn’t confident in my ability to succeed in college, let alone his class at the start of the year. Through his class I’ve seen how much I can improve by pushing myself and the satisfaction I get from seeing that growth.
I’ve always seen politics or government issues as dry and unimportant, but over the course of the year, I realized how interconnected they are with so many of the things in life that matter to me. His class has shown how life changing having knowledge of the historical and current political and social systems can be. His way of making a space for students to openly debate and think critically about their political and ideological views in the classroom setting made the topics discussed feel so much more complex.
