NEWS

Teach for America Q&A with Mark Bell

Allison B. Hudson

Name:Mark Bell

· Position, subject you teach:2ndGrade

· School:Donaldsonville Primary

· Age:22

· Previous Work or Leadership Experience:Managing Editor of the Texas Christian University Newspaper

· Hometown:McKinney, Texas

· Education:Degrees in Journalism and Political Science from Texas Christian University

· Family:My parents Mark and Lori and my 13-year-old brother Patrick.

· Interests and hobbies:I love reading, watching and playing sports (especially soccer), going to concerts and being outdoors.

· In several sentences explain how and why you decided to choose education: I come from a family of teachers; my mom is a teacher, my aunt and uncle teach and I have grandparents that taught. Seeing how much these people love what they do and the difference they make in their students’ lives inspired me to teach.

· Who is someone in current events who you admire and why?I admire our president Barack Obama for his positive spirit of working to make our country and world a better place. I love how he is solutions oriented instead of harping on problems and how he looks at how we can fix problems together as an American people.

· What do you feel are the greatest challenges in education today?The greatest challenges in education are the barriers that we as adults have created. All children are willing and capable of incredible work and education, but we as adults have to figure out the best way to allocate money, people, experience, curriculum, and practices to ensure that all children have an opportunity to succeed in a public school setting.

· What are your goals for your first year of teaching?My goals for my first year of teaching are that my students will learn and achieve all second grade material and become as excited and passionate about learning and reading as I am.

·  How will you engage students in the classroom?I’ll engage my students by varying lessons and activities to keep them involved and challenged and my incorporating my students’ specific interests into lessons and activities.