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My cousin,
Christina Fletcher, was born November 28, 1977 at St.
Vincent Hospital in Toledo. Her mother, Charlene Fletcher,
raised her as a single mother, but always made sure that
family was an important part of her upbringing. “I have a
very close extended family,” Christina said as we laughed
about how close our family is. She was always a person who
never let her childhood define who she is: “We were
definitely poor, but I didn’t know it.”
We began
to talk about her high school life to which she replied,
“High school was wonderful.” She participated in several
different clubs like Afro Club, Latino Club (because of her
best friend), Drama Club, and French Club in which she
served as president. She played a sport in high school by
being a member of the varsity golf team. Also, throughout
her high school years she was a member of Toledo Excel,
where she was in Group IV.
“I had so
much help and I had good friend circles,” she said as she
broke down a list of a few of the people who influenced her
life. “Dr Hudson, who ran the after school program that
helped me get into Excel, and Dr. Helen Cooks.” She also
acknowledged Linda Meyers who is the Assistant
Transformational Leader for TPS: “She helped to guide me
once I became assistant principal.”
The
conversation then shifted to her college years. “I wanted to
be a drug prevention officer. Then my advisor dissuaded me
by telling me how hard it would be to get work, so then I
decided to become a teacher. I then thought to myself and
said, Nope, I want to be a principal.”
Christina
attended the University of Toledo on a scholarship and is a
2001 graduate. During her time at UT, she was a part of the
Black Student Union, Student Government for all four years,
the NAACP college chapter, and became a member of Alpha
Kappa Alpha Sorority, which she is still in. She graduated
with her bachelor’s degree in English Education for
9th-12th grades.
She went
on to become a teacher at the now defunct Libbey High
School. She taught there for eight years. I asked her what
were some of the challenges she faced as a new teacher when
she started at Libbey?
She
replied, “ Establishing good parent communications and
balancing work and home life responsibilities. It was also
challenging establishing a good system of classroom
management when students were extremely challenging. I was
prepared for off-task behavior or a student who didn’t want
to be in class; I was not prepared for mental health issues
or some of the extreme behaviors emotionally disturbed
students bring to class.” At this point, I asked her, “Was
there ever a time you almost gave up? “
“Sure,”
she replied. “There were several times. On occasion I would
get frustrated with having a tremendous workload and needing
to stay home and grade papers or write an exam while my
friends who had graduated at the same time were enjoying
lucrative careers which allowed them to make major purchases
and travel. At one point, I interviewed for a job in the
business sector in hopes of securing a better financial
future. It didn’t work out, though. I think it was divine
intervention that kept me in education. Plus, I had a really
good support system. My friends and family after a while
began to understand the continued educational and time
obligations associated with being an educator.” She went on
to work at Phoenix Academy all while going back to school to
get her M.A. in English Education.
In 2015
she began another educational journey going to Bowling Green
State University for another degree. In 2016, she became the
interim assistant principal at Scott High School and by
mid-school year was the permanent assistant principal. Then
in August of 2017, Christina graduated with her third
degree, which was a Specialist Degree for Administration and
Supervision.
After all
these accomplishments and all this time in school, I asked
her what was either the easiest or hardest class she had
taken. She said, “The History of Education. I’m not a
history person at all. Names and dates have never stuck with
me. I had a class where we studied over 100 court cases
related to education. When I walked into the final exam
instead of it being theory or general content-based, I
walked into the exam and there was a blank piece of paper
where I was required to write down as many court cases and
dates as I could remember without any notes. I bombed that
exam and therefore failed the class. I had to retake the
class with a different professor who focused more on
understanding the significance of the cases instead of the
names and dates.”
The last
question I asked her as we finished up was, “What advice do
you have for me going forth on this educational journey?”
She replied, “ The internet is an awesome resource, but you
have to give yourself a time limit on how much time you
spend searching for things that could just as easily be
created. Establish a good routine for yourself and find
people you consider outstanding educators so that you can
model your practice after them and utilize them as a
resource when you have questions. Don’t teach in isolation.
It is always awesome to bounce ideas off of other teachers
and find out what works for someone else. Go into the
classrooms of great teachers and watch them teach. This
career is absolutely a calling, not a choice: you have to
love it and be committed to it in order to be successful.
People who come into education for the wrong reasons often
find themselves miserable because this is a work of the
heart. It doesn’t matter how knowledgeable you are if you
don't love kids and love to teach them.”
Robert Fletcher is a
graduate of Scott High School and is now a paraprofessional
in Toledo Public Schools. Mr. Fletcher has assisted with
the Scott High School Marching Band, and is currently in his
first year as a University of Toledo student, pursuing a
Bachelor of Education degree in Music Education through the
Teach Toledo program. The profile “My cousin, the
principal” was originally written for his ENG1110
Composition I course.
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