Editor’s note: As part of our celebration of National Teacher Appreciation Week, we are highlighting a few outstanding educators from classrooms across the state. We thank all of our extraordinary teachers for providing students what they need to meet high expectations and realize their incredible potential.
Today’s Q&A spotlight features Carl Rankin. Rankin has been an educator for 36 years with experience teaching English Language Arts. Currently, he teaches grades 9-12 at the Bedford Community School District, where he is always trying new things to support student success. For Teacher Appreciation Week, Rankin shared how he has grown as an educator over the past 36 years and why he is still passionate about teaching.
What is your favorite memory or teaching moment in the classroom?
There is that moment when a student’s eyes light up as s/he gets it and starts to see and understand beyond just the written words on the page. That moment is what makes all of the others worth it.
Why are you passionate about teaching? What things do you love about working with students?
I love being around students as they learn and/or succeed at something for the first time. I love seeing the pride and amazement in their eyes as they lift their heads a little higher because they “get it” or feel good about something they just did. I feel thankful that I get to do that every day, year after year.
What do you think are the keys to a student’s success and how do you help foster continued learning?
There is a sign that has hung in my classroom for many years that states: “Lack of effort is the only way someone fails.” Being willing to try and to keep trying is the key to student success. If a student is willing to reach out and try, I will do everything I can to pull him/her to be successful. I try to provide as many opportunities for student success as possible, and I am always willing to give a helping hand.
How have you grown as an educator? What advice would you give to a new teacher starting out in the field?
I am always learning, adjusting, adapting and trying new things. After 36 years of teaching, I never teach something the same way I did the year(s) before. I am constantly fixing and improving what I do and how I can make it better for my students. My advice to new teachers is to go to the workshop, take the class and try the new thing you read about or just heard about. The world is constantly changing, your students are constantly changing and you are constantly changing. Take the chance to try the new thing. It just might be the thing you have been needing to take your students to the next level.
Who was a teacher that made a positive impact in your life? What things did they do to make learning meaningful?
I was fortunate to have many good teachers throughout my education. Many teachers believed in me when I might not have believed in myself. Mrs. Kitterman and Mr. Sissel were my high school English/speech/drama teachers during my junior and senior years in high school. They connected with me in class and during speech and drama activities in ways that others had never done and opened a love of literature, writing, speech and drama that has carried me through all of my years as a student and teacher.