About Me as a Social Studies Teacher
Nathan on Arlington Independent Media interviewing student playwrights who wrote and performed the play Voices Out of Chaos at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia. The play is about a girl trying to make sense of political polarization and the chaotic news cycles of our time.
I’ve always been a teacher.
From my days as a camp counselor teaching juggling, to school counseling, to being the youth coordinator at Arlington Independent Media, I’ve always been helping students to learn.
My role as a counselor at Glasgow Middle School laid the foundation of my teaching philosophy. I believe students must feel safe and supported in order to learn. When I create a classroom climate that values and supports every student, they gain confidence to grapple with new ideas without fear of being judged. If I can create a connection between social studies content and their lives, they are also empowered and motivated to engage with our system of government, our shared history, and their fellow students. Just as I seek to bring to life the full diversity of voices from our past that have shaped our present, I also seek to bring my students’ voices to life in my classroom, preparing each of them to lend their unique perspectives and abilities to our communities, our society, and our government.