Monique Jacobson

I have wanted to be a teacher since I entered kindergarten.  Going to school was my favorite part of the day, and as the years progressed, I became even more entranced in learning and I wanted to share my love for learning with everyone.  As an undergraduate, I decided to major in Psychology because I wanted to learn about the human mind and child development.  After having a better understanding of children’s behavioral and mental development, I felt I was better equipped to study education and become a teacher. During my senior year, I applied and was accepted to Teach for America in 2012, where I decided to go anywhere in the United States to teach any grade necessary to help students in low-income neighborhoods receive an excellent education. 

 

I was placed in the Las Vegas Valley to teach middle school science to a wonderfully diverse set of students.  My students in the valley came to me with a variety of needs, abilities, and learning styles.  I worked relentlessly to develop an engaging science curriculum that was hands-on, rigorous, and structured to fit my students’ needs.  Teaching science enlightened me to see that it is the key to our advancing society.  I want to take the essence of science and literacy to connect all of the subjects together so my students are able to develop their learning as it relates to the world.

 

I am an educator for the sole purpose that I want to make a difference in the lives of my students, and set them up for a lifetime of opportunities.  The essence of education is to enlighten my students to be able to think for themselves and apply concepts to better their own lives and the lives of others.   

 

My classroom is full of positive energy, polite and inquisitive conversations, and challenges that are met with high expectations.  My students know that I expect the best from them, and they rise to these expectations!  It is imperative for my students to know where they are in their learning process and where they need to go.  Not only do we have classroom trackers, but each of my students hold individual data trackers as well, to ensure their understanding of the pathway to their class goals!  Our classroom is full of learning and mistakes are celebrated as part of the learning process.  My passion for education helps me to ensure that my students develop their higher level, critical thinking skills inside and outside the classroom.  I do not just want my students to know an answer; I want them to have justification for their answer.  Not only do I want my students to have reasons for their answer, but also I want them to develop questions, and push their own curiosity.  My instruction shows students that learning can be invigorating!

 

My mission statement as a teacher is to earn the trust of my students in order to ensure that they leave my classroom with a sense of compassion for the environment and others, a sense of self-advocacy, a curiosity to question the world around them, a love for life long learning, and a determination to leave the world a better place.  This is achieved through hands-on learning experiences, urging my students to inquire and develop questions, while maintaining a focus that science and literacy help to connect all of our school subjects combined together.