I’m a writer, radio producer, and educator but mostly, I’m a traveler. I been fortunate to live and work in some amazing places across Africa and the Middle East. I became an educator because teachers undergird all professions and my favorite and most impactful people in my life were teachers. I am dedicated to the development of children because words and representation matter. Children require love, support, and consistency. They pick up on EVERYTHING we do like the little sponges that they are. I had a hectic upbringing so at one point in my career, I wanted to be the change I needed to see in the world. Like James Baldwin once said, “the purpose of education is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for him/herself and make their own decisions. ” As an educator, I model life long learning and curiosity. When my students read in class, I sit quietly and read too. I can not stress the importance of modeling reading, asking questions, and then the process of looking for answers. It’s a practice called See, Think, Wonder and it’s pretty awesome to see where students go with this.
I try to instill in children a love of learner and building critical thinking skills and creativity. I also believe in building there self esteem no matter there background, social status, or gender.
My best advice about student life is that they explore and think about problems they won’t to solve in society. How are they going to take action as our future leaders . They world is theirs and they are major players and stake holders in what happens next.
Please identify me as Deborah Williams, M. E