(Editor’s note: Meet one of the five finalists for Columbia County’s Board of Education Teacher of the Year Award. The winning teacher will be announced at Columbia County’s Teacher banquet on Oct. 5 at White Oak Road Farm.)
Desiree Hinton comes from a family of teachers and since childhood, she has always known she wanted to be a teacher.
“My mom was a teacher, and her mom was a teacher; my dad was also an educator, so it’s just something that’s always been in our blood,” said Hinton. “I just always wanted to help people so I kind of felt that it was destined for me.”
However, despite her passion for teaching, Hinton chose to pursue a career in Human Resources as a director for about a decade in Atlanta. After moving to Augusta and volunteering with the Boy and Girls Club in academic enrichment program, Hinton realized her desire to teach.
“Teaching involves a curriculum, but it also involves being the nurturing person, being the nurse, being the counselor, being the mother when you need to and sometimes being a friend, but also remembering boundaries,” she said.
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Following her achievement of earning a bachelor’s degree, Hinton first started teaching special education and eventually became a math teacher.
By the time Hinton became an educator, she had already been a mother; she believes motherhood taught her different aspects of teaching and has made her more patient with students.
“I do feel like it’s helped me in ways that, had I not been a mom, I may not have been as understanding,” she said. “I know to be flexible. I know there are times when my own kids have a rough morning, and I email their teachers and say ‘this is what happened so please understand that their day might be thrown off.’ I feel like it’s really easy for us to forget that … even kids wear heavy coats sometimes.”
Hinton always tries to be flexible and understanding of children’s different situations and often tries to provide the missing pieces for her students.
“I never push them about why they don’t have something as simple as a pencil. I mean I joke that I have bought more pencils – I just have pencils all over – because I don’t know if they just don’t have money for something or the means for something,” she said. “I probably buy more school supplies for my school kids than I do for my own kids at home.”
Hinton, who now teaches seventh grade at Harlem Middle School, said she grew up with a number of wonderful teachers who inspired a desire to give back to others.
“When I was in seventh grade, I had a teacher named Mrs. Bowen and she taught social studies, which is not one of my favorite subjects, but she just made it fun,” she said. “It’s one of the things where I don’t remember the content that she taught in seventh grade, but I remember the way she made us feel and that she made us have fun.”
Influenced by her parents and past teachers, Hinton believes in being calm and encouraging, and seeing students as individuals.
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“I understand that they are all unique and they all learn in different ways. I can’t expect to come in here and sit at the board and work out problems and that’s going to work for everybody,” she said. “I try to feed off what my students need and in turn be flexible with them; make sure that they understand I expect a lot out of them, but that I’m there to help them.”
Hinton said she constantly tries to encourage and motivate her students, and feels it is important for students to understand that it’s okay to make a mistake.
“If they didn’t make a mistake, they wouldn’t be learning,” she said. “I let them know that I make mistakes all the time and I don’t hide it. I’ll point it out to them … it just shows them that it’s okay because that’s how we learn.”
Hinton said middle school is a tough age for students and she often tries to relate her lessons to the real world, so students understand why learning math is important.
“I used a driving example recently with my kids and I said, ‘o.k., so pretty soon you’ll be getting a learner’s permit. If your mom or dad never let you drive, what would happen when you went out to take the test?’” she said. “They answered, ‘I wouldn’t do well.’”
She then asked her students what might happen while practicing when learning; they responded, “‘well I’m probably going to make some mistakes.’” After asking if mistakes would stop them from driving and the students answered with a resounding no, Hinton pointed out that her kids were exactly right – “that’s my point, we have to keep going and we have to make those mistakes and learn to keep going.”
Hinton said she also prioritizes holding her kids accountable because they might not have someone at home who expects more.
“They might be further along in their education than some of their family members and that’s o.k. So just showing them that I believe in them, that I expect a lot of them, that they can do it, and I’m not going to fuss at them while encouraging them to make those mistakes – I think is just so important,” she said. “Our aim is not to do it just to do it; our aim is to do and do it well.”
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To encourage her students’ progress and perfect test scores, Hinton displays students’ names on the classroom wall so they can take pride in having their efforts be recognized.
“They like seeing that immediate satisfaction or seeing their name. They’ll come into class and say, ‘okay my name is there and my name is there,’” she said. “They like seeing that but it also gives them a purpose when sometimes they don’t have one, or it helps them make those connections with each other.”
Hinton said one particular student who reaffirmed her love of teaching was a young eighth grader who was known for failing classes. However, with Hinton’s help and encouragement, the student passed all her classes that same year.
“She recently graduated and was sending me pictures and text messages, and I fully feel in my heart that would not have happened had I not been there for her,” she said. “It was just showing her that I believed in her and that she needed to believe in herself … that was probably the biggest lightbulb moment of ‘okay this is definitely what I want to do,’ and it was just funny because that first day she walked into my class I thought ‘oh no, this is not going to work.’ She just graduated this past May, and it was really exciting.”
In five to ten years, Hinton said she will probably be working on a doctorate degree and would love to seek a position in administration one day as her ultimate goal.
“I like to lead my students, but I also like to lead my colleagues, and I like to help the parents out with their students by providing them with material and information they need,” she said.
The winner of the Teacher of the Year Award will be announced on Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. at the White Oak Road Farm.
Liz Wright is a staff writer covering education and general assignments for The Augusta Press. Reach her at liz@theaugustapress.com
