Cynthia Smith

I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.
- Mahatma Ghandi

Teaching is all based on a feeling of respect and comfort.

Classroom culture is number one and learning follows.

Objective: Educate students by providing a conducive learning environment, properly implementing my role as a teacher, while defining their roles as students and providing strong teaching strategies and assessments.

In 2008, I received the Golden Apple Scholarship award. With this I was provided the opportunity to begin my career in education even before I stepped foot on my college campus.

  • 2008: Led a small group of 5th-8th grade students through lessons in mathematics and vocabulary at Seward Elementary, Chicago, IL. I taught comparing fractions.
  • 2009: Taught/observed multiple mini-algebra lessons to small groups of students in grades 8th-9th at Illinois Mathematics & Science Academy (IMSA) in Aurora, IL.
  • 2010: Prepared/co-taught hands-on mathematic/science lessons to 28 students in grades 8th-9th in Aurora, IL. Taught lessons on exponential functions as well as DNA structure.

My College Struggle

I began my college career as a Secondary Education Mathematics major. It was during the summer of 2009 that I began to question my choice in majors. I knew I loved teaching but something was missing. I felt like the teaching aspect was missing from my college courses and it was all based on content knowledge. I wanted to learn how to teach and how to connect with all my students. The content knowledge came easy to me and I wanted something else.

This led to me switching schools, thinking I would find what I was looking for at a different school. It was the following summer, during my study abroad trip to England that it finally hit me. I loved math and loved teaching math. It was the grade level at which I had chosen that I was NOT happy with. Middle level grades were where I was happiest.

I returned to my first University the following fall and switched majors. I was now an Elementary Education major with a minor in mathematics. I had never been happier.