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Why I Teach: Steven Dickherber


Steven Dickherber (Oklahoma '13) teaches at Nathan Hale High School. He has had the opportunity to teach Algebra I throughout his summer school placement and his two-year commitment. He chose to stay another year at Hale; he speaks about his decision, commitment, and passion for his students and classroom for this year and beyond.

Why I chose to stay after my TFA commitment:

My vision for what it will take to achieve true transformational change has shifted since I joined the corps. My belief is deeper than ever -- it is both more plausible than I ever thought, as well as much more difficult. I think I initially felt a true transformational change would take a really great teacher 2-3 years. Very quickly, I realized it would take me 2-3 years to even become a decent teacher; now I believe transformational change will require another 4-5 years (at a minimum.) As I get better, my class gets better, my department gets better, and my school gets better. Every year seems to have exponential returns on gritty improvement.

A moment that helped me decide to stay:

Josie failed every single class her freshman year. She was 14 years old, and she was already acting as the head-of-household due to a mentally ill mother. She repeated Algebra 1 with me in what should have been her sophomore year, and something clicked. By the end of the year, she took an online Geometry course, so she could enroll in Algebra 2 to be back on track.

After attending Saturday School and participating in Math Club, Josie was ready to skip Pre-Calculus. Now in her junior year, she is enrolled in Calculus and on track to take BC Calculus as a senior. She has taken her ACT and has earned a 27. Josie is working with me one-on-one in her free time to improve reading and writing through a voluntary book study (The Fountainhead).

Josie is going to go to any college she wants (she's favoring OU because of an environmental engineering program she's interested in), and she plans to join Teach For America when she graduates college so she can have an impact on her own community. I'm going to cry way too much when I see her walk across the stage to get her diploma.

Josie is one of roughly 440 reasons I'm still teaching.


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"Twenty-five years. 50,000 teachers. 42,000+ alumni. Millions of kids. That's a lot of students and a lot of people working in and out of the classroom to expand educational opportunities in America. And everyone's got a story." 

 

One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education. All children in this country deserve an education that prepares them to reach their full potential, regardless of where they live, what their families earn, and the color of their skin. Here is a glimpse of what is happening in Northeastern Oklahoma as we align our regional priorities to the national Teach For America movement.

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