{"id":88015,"date":"2020-05-08T13:44:56","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T17:44:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=88015"},"modified":"2022-10-25T16:11:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T20:11:25","slug":"class-act-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2020\/05\/08\/class-act-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Class act"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Ali England has two education degrees from Wright State.<\/p><\/div>\n

As part of the seventh generation of educators within her family, Ali England had heard plenty about the ills of standardized testing, the lack of respect for teachers, the demanding hours and the tangle of regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon graduating high school there was nothing I wanted to do less than teach,\u201d said the Wright State alumna. \u201cI spent my first year of college trying to convince myself that education was not the profession for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But during her sophomore year at Wright State, England was on the fence about a major and was encouraged by her mother to take an education course.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer exact words were, \u2018It’s one class. What do you have to lose?\u2019\u201d England recalled.<\/p>\n

That class led to a field teaching experience at Trotwood Madison High School in Dayton that changed England\u2019s career trajectory and her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter experiencing that first aha moment with a student, I knew that rewarding feeling was something I didn’t want to let go of,\u201d she said. \u201cI fell in love with education and have never looked back. I knew I had made the right decision for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, she teaches ninth-grade English\/language arts at McClain High School in the southern Ohio village of Greenfield.<\/p>\n

England grew up in the southern Ohio village of Peebles in Adams County, graduating from North Adams High School in 2015. She enrolled at Wright State because several of her family members were graduates and she wanted to continue the tradition.<\/p>\n

While at Wright State, England attended the National Council of Teachers of English conference and the Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts conference multiple times.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing better than being surrounded by the nation\u2019s greatest educators for a few days a year,\u201d she said. \u201cThe conversations and ideas I walk away with are valuable lessons that I implement in my own classroom daily. Attending these conferences was the highlight of my college experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last fall, England along with Angela Johnson, program director of integrated language arts at Wright State, and award-winning authors Cyndy Etler and Chris Crutcher made a presentation at the National Council of Teachers of English\u2019s Assembly on Literature for Adolescents about identity and privilege and using young adult literature to create empathy among students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know if anything will top that,\u201d said England. \u201cIt was an incredible experience to present something I am passionate about with a panel of people who are equally as passionate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said England is indeed incredibly passionate about professional opportunities and often travels to other parts of the state to attend author talks and events that promote literacy, such as Project Lit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAli is one of those teachers who loves her content as much as she loves her students,” said Johnson.<\/p>\n

England earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in English: language arts education in 2018 and her master\u2019s of education<\/a> in 2019 and landed her first teaching job within a week of graduation.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, she took on the task of submitting a presentation proposal to the National Council of Teachers of English within seven hours of its due date.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreating this proposal was easily the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve done,\u201d she said. \u201cI had convinced myself that I had done a terrible job and put it out of mind as soon as it was submitted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this spring, she received an email from NCTE on her proposal but was in no hurry to check it because she wasn\u2019t expecting it to be accepted. It was.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never felt prouder of myself than when I received that email,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was a relief to see all of my hard work finally pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n

England said none of what she has accomplished would have been possible without Wright State.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy small class sizes made me feel like a person and not a number,\u201d she said. \u201cI was able to build powerful relationships with my professors that have carried beyond the university. And I was challenged in my courses and pushed my own thinking beyond what I knew was possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

England said she is proud of the successful relationships she has built with her students at McClain High School. Her biggest challenge has been dealing with the coronavirus pandemic that has closed the school for the entire quarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has forced me to adapt and accommodate for each individual student,\u201d she said. \u201cIt has shown me that the social and emotional aspect of education far outweighs the content when dealing with a crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

England\u2019s advice to students studying to be teachers is to realize that a career in education can be challenging and not to be too hard on themselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hard work, but it is worth it,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd don’t be afraid to ask for help. There are so many people that are more than willing to help you through all stages of the profession. Finally, take care of yourself. You can’t pour from a cup that is empty.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ali England, who has two education degrees from Wright State, landed her first teaching job within a week of graduation in 2019. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":88027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,4309,2104,2060,744,725,715,4892],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-association","category-teacher-education","category-graduate","category-education-human-services","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news","category-teacher-education-education-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88015"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88047,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88015\/revisions\/88047"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}