Although it may not feel like it, teachers have lives outside of school too. They have families and hobbies as well as personal struggles and achievements.
So, here is the daily perspective of McClain Herman who teaches English 11 as well as IB English Literature II. She has been working as a teacher at Annandale for seven years now and is also a lead for the English 11 teachers.
“I didn’t start out as a teacher and I did start out in a career where I wasn’t making that much money, but I could have made a lot of money long term. I didn’t really necessarily believe that the work I was doing was meaningful to me or something that I thought was important. It made me realize that it doesn’t really matter if I’m making good money if I don’t enjoy what I’m doing. So because of that, I decided to become a teacher,” said McClain Herman.
She is a great teacher, in fact, with a timely turnaround of grades and dedication to helping her students grow as individuals.
“For me, when I have a grading pile up, it creates a lot of anxiety for me.
So in an effort to manage that anxiety, I just grade [work] immediately,” said Herman.
“I enjoy having one-on-one or small group conversations with students. I feel like that’s when I am able to get to know them best, but then also I see the most growth in them when I can really work in a small setting with them. Seeing that growth is really rewarding,” she added.
Apart from teaching, Herman enjoys spending time with her husband, Tommy, son Theo, who is 2.5 years old, and her daughter James, who is four-years-old, as well as her extended family. She also enjoys running and strength training for her mental health and wishes she had more time for professional reading to refine her teaching.
