Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Brown.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
In 2007 I graduated from the University of Houston main campus with a Bachelor’s degree in biological sciences. After working in a research and development lab, I decided to go to Medical School but wanted to complete a Master’s program in Public Health before doing so. While I worked through my master’s program, I decided that I want to teach as the laboratory was the same thing day after day and was getting boring. Unlike people with education degrees who can go straight into the field as a teacher, I was required to go through an alternative certification program to get my teaching credential. I searched online and found Pasadena ISD’s Alternative Teacher Certification Program. Now, while this might sound bias, the program was fantastic. The face-to-face training provided me with the modeling I needed to see and understand before attempting to use it in the classroom. Many people assume that teaching is easy, but I can assure you that it is one of the most challenging careers out there, but also one of the most rewarding.
Due to the training I received in the ATCP program, I had the tools in my belt to be a successful teacher. During my four years of teaching, I received New Teacher of the Year, the Together We Can Achieve More Award, third place for the National New Teacher of the Year, and received a $20,000 grant to fund a self-designed microbiology and pathophysiology course. The microbiology and pathophysiology courses were vertically aligned to San Jacinto College’s nursing program, so students could easily maturate into that program well prepared.
Furthermore, I built a partnership with the M.D. Anderson Cancer Hospital where my students were able to see tumors come out of surgery, be processed and stained in the histology lab being prepped for the Oncologist to exam the results. My students were also able to work in the blood typing lab where they went through the process of typing blood, which is necessary for blood transfusions. At the end of my 4th year of teaching, I was contacted by my ATCP program specialist, Dr. Angela Kennedy, that there was an instructional specialist position open on the ATCP team. I was told that with what I have accomplished in the previous four years, that I should apply. I thought that it would be a great idea. While I loved the classroom and loved my students, I felt that I could have a more significant impact on students if I were in a position to train and develop new teachers. I interviewed and was offered the position. Fast forward five years, I have come full circle.
Back to where my journey to being an educator started, I am a trainer of new teachers with the ATCP team giving back and helping impact the lives of teachers who will, in turn, change the lives of students. Additionally, I assist with the district’s Aspiring Administrator and Counselors Academy where I get to help teachers become leaders within the district. I feel truly blessed for what I have been able to accomplish professionally, and even more so for the impact, I am able to have on others.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The pathway to teaching is never an easy process. Many people think that teaching is just standing in front of students and giving them new information that they did not yet before have. This cannot be further from the truth. Teaching is a data driven practice and education is shifting to more personalized learning and differentiation. What this means is that no two students are the same and therefore they do not learn the same. Understanding this requires teachers to personalize learning to meet the needs of each individual student. This is far from an easy task. At the secondary level when you see roughly 160 different students in a day, the teacher is tasked with potentially developing 160 different ways to reach his or her students. The amount of time to plan for such an approach requires many hours outside of the school day. We teach all day just to go home and plan for the next day, grade papers, develop presentations or activities, etc. We put in more hours in a day than most corporate executives with only a fraction of the pay. We do it because we love kids and we want the best for our futures. No one would be where they are without some level of education. It is far from easy and seems to get more difficult each year as we try to improve our abilities to meet each student where they are, differentiate for them, and build them up. Despite this, it is an extremely rewarding career to see the lives you have touched and see the great things that they are doing in life. Knowing that you had some part in that is the best feeling in the world.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Pasadena ISD Alternative Teacher Certification Program – what should we know?
At Pasadena ISD ATCP, we are committed to a single goal; to place the best-trained educators in the classroom for our students. We have been successfully preparing teachers since 1990. We are a public, non-profit, district-based organization dedicated to finding those who seek to change lives and shape the future of our community. We strive to prepare the best teachers for our students. The Pasadena ISD, Alternative Certification Program, offers qualified individuals the benefit of full-time teaching experience, professional mentorship, and exposure to effective teaching practices, thus ensuring success in the classroom. The ATCP process allows the intern teacher to earn full teacher certification in about twelve months.
Pasadena ISD’s ATCP is proud to offer consistent one-on-one support for all our new teachers. Having a team of specialists working in the teachers’ own backyard allows opportunities for coaching, observations, and classroom support.
Pasadena’s program prides itself on service and support to not only meet TEA guidelines but to also offer services as requested by our interns. We are very proud that we have had an intern in the Texas Alternative Certification Association Intern of the Year competition for two years in a row. Additionally, one of my interns was named the National Outstanding New Educator winner this year.
What sets us apart is that we believe in face-to-face practical instruction instead of virtual instruction. Online education can be quick and easy. However, students and classroom are not virtual. Therefore, rather than merely reading about strategies for the classroom or watching videos, we rely heavily on face-to-face, blended instruction. We do not only teach and model strategies for the interns, but we have them practice the strategies in a safe environment without students before attempting to apply them in the classroom setting.
Throughout the school year, the interns will be utilizing project-based learning where they will implement strategies with their students that were learned through training, making the instruction more applicable.
Another factor that sets us apart is our technology instruction. The days of teaching by using a chalkboard with lecture are long gone. Pasadena ISD is a 1:1 school district. This means that each student has either access or is provided a school-issued laptop or tablet that they carry from class to class and can even take home. Therefore, ATCP has created a technology team.
The team of technology teacher leaders provides our program members vital technology instruction. This makes ATCP unique in that the interns will get direct instructional technology training based on the grade level taught and centered around the district initiatives. The technology team will ensure intern success using instructional technology whether they are a technology native or a technology beginner.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I would have to say grit. Despite any bumps in the road, I have long-term goals that I refuse to let go of. Grit has allowed me to persevere through all obstacles while still heading for the finish line. In the process, I have never lost sight of that or the passion I have to help and educate others. I make a statement back in my senior year of high school that ended up becoming the senior class motto. It was, “The only true things in life you regret, are the risks you didn’t take.” That is my mantra. I take risks, and I am proud of doing it. This world would not be what it is today if not for the risks taken by the most influential people of our time. Many people risked everything to be something better, to provide something better, and to leave the world a better place. To move mountains, it takes grit and the willingness to take risks, even if they are unpopular. You have to believe in yourself, forget what anyone else may think, and live this life to the fullest possible. I want to be an example of the change I want to see in the world. I am going to live out my truth and leave a legacy by helping in the process of educating the future generations of our society. If we do not build a solid foundation now, when they are young, the building is sure to crumble around them. I have had students with no direction in life and not wanting to go to college, turn around and decide to major in microbiology because of being in my class. I have helped students out of sexually abusive family situations. I had mentored many students when their parents were no longer active in the students’ lives. This list goes on. I did this because I do not care who you are. Everyone can learn, everyone can succeed, and everyone deserves the chance at the life that they want. They just need to potential realized and nurtured. That’s what I did. That is the type of teacher I am, and that is the type of teacher I want the interns of our program to become. As Rita Pearson said, “Every child needs a champion.” I will be that champion, and I have to do it be setting an example for myself through grit.
Pricing:
- Our program is $4,500, but with a three-year commitment to work in PISD, the district will waive $3,000 of that cost.
- The application fee is $40
Contact Info:
- Address: 11111 Beamer Road,
Houston, TX 77089 - Website: www.pasadenaisdatcp.org
- Phone: 713.740.0029
- Email: ebrown@pasadenaisd.org
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/PISDATCP
Image Credit:
Jade Wise
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