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 their focus on evidence-based instruction and providing students what they need to meet high expectations and realize their incredible potential.
Today’s Q&A spotlight features Eddie McEwan. McEwan is a 16-year veteran mathematics teacher, currently at Ames Middle School. In his classroom, he engages students in seventh grade math and seventh/eighth grade compacted math, providing opportunities for students to grow, learn and explore. For Teacher Appreciation Week, McEwan shared what he loves about working with students and what advice he would give to new teachers.
What is your favorite memory or teaching moment in the classroom?
My favorite moment was when a group of my former sixth grade students visited my class as high school seniors.
Why are you passionate about teaching? What things do you love about working with students?
I love the interactions with my students, and no day is ever the same. I am continually impressed with what my students can accomplish and how much they grow throughout the year.
What do you think are the keys to a student’s success and how do you help foster continued learning?
Clear expectations, solid routines and experiences that will allow them to wonder, think and learn are the pathways to learning and success.
How have you grown as an educator? What advice would you give to a new teacher starting out in the field?
The longer I spend in the classroom and the more time I spend interacting with students, the more I appreciate the uniqueness of my students. The experiences they bring to the room and the knowledge I gain from them allow me to continually improve as an educator and a person.
My advice for any new teacher is to find the flow that best works for you and to learn to have fun with your students. The more they see you enjoying what you are doing in the classroom, the more they will enjoy what you are doing together.
Who was a teacher that made a positive impact in your life? What things did they do to make learning meaningful?
I always remember my fifth grade teacher at Bay View Elementary in Santa Cruz, California, Mrs. Mary Granger. She was the educator who figured out that the best way to keep a really excitable 10-year-old occupied after he had finished all of his work was to give him increasingly more difficult books to read. Not only did this instill a lifelong passion for reading, but it provided me with an outlet for energy that had been getting me in trouble for years.