After four consecutive years of teaching elementary school students, Mr. Desrick Drummond finds himself in an unfamiliar position: educating high schoolers for the first time. Mr. Drummond told The Pilot that the anxiety he once felt about teaching teenagers has all but dissipated. After his first week at Fort Hamilton, Mr. Drummond realized that the maturity of his older students allows him the privilege of prioritizing teaching his lessons over disciplining students and correcting misbehavior – something he didn’t have the luxury of doing in his earlier years instructing younger students.
Mr. Drummond’s teaching philosophy is animated by a simple principle: A student is only as smart as the teacher who guides them. To be a teacher, Mr. Drummond says, one must be flexible and adapt to each student’s needs. He recalls how falling behind his peers in his own early elementary years gave him the empathy he needs to teach his younger students today. “When I’m teaching and see a kid acting up, I understand,” he said. “School is challenging and you have to find something to distract yourself.”
Unlike many other teachers who recognized their affinity for teaching from an early age, Mr. Drummond chose teaching as a career due to his prior experience and knowledge of earth science rather than an itching desire to impart knowledge upon younger generations. His four years of teaching have already proved fulfilling, however. He finds the profession highly rewarding and claims that the best part of teaching is knowing that he has students who are interested in learning and are able to take away new information from his class.
Apart from dedicating his time to teaching and grading countless papers day after day, Mr. Drummond finds pleasure in watching football games and enjoying a night out with his family or friends. He believes that rest is equally important as work, and socializing is a critical part of his life outside of teaching.
As he navigates his teaching career step by step, Mr. Drummond aims to find more ways to make his class more engaging and enjoyable, and hopes to meet his students’ expectations of him as the year progresses. A teacher who values the individual needs of students is essential, and Fort Hamilton is lucky to have Mr. Drummond.
