McKenna Mullin
Student teacher at Newtown Middle School
My Teaching Philosophy:
Giving Students a Shot
I come from a long line of educators who were involved in athletics. My dad is a high school special education teacher and a basketball coach, my mom is a teacher at our local Intermediate Unit and a gymnastics coach, before both of my maternal grandparents retired, they were also high school teachers and coaches. My whole life the only thing I knew was teaching and coaching. At the dinner table my family would talk about different school policies and the different testing predicaments they would have. They would share stories of their own personal wins and sometimes they would tell of the students they wished they could have smacked. I always wanted to be a teacher partially because it was all I knew.
With both of my parents teaching and coaching, and all of my siblings and I being involved in our own athletics, we often found ourselves at others’ practices. I remember countless nights monkeying around at my dad’s high school basketball practices with my siblings. He tried to contain my three younger siblings and I in the back office, but we were in a gym full of physical education equipment and basically unsupervised—we were far from quiet. My freshman year of High School my dad brought a manager on to the team and asked me to come to practice to meet him. So, I went to his practice and met the new manager. To this day, Kevin is one of my best friends and he happens to have Down syndrome. From that day on, I went to as many practices as my schedule would allow to hang out with Kevin. I learned a lot about life from Kevin, and I learned a lot about myself from him too.
One day we were shooting in the gym and taking turns rebounding. After we were done, Kevin and I went to the bleachers to get a drink. We were talking and then I felt a drop on my thigh. I remember looking at the drop and then at Kevin only to see pure fear in his eyes. Kevin had drooled on me. Instantly, Kevin pointed at the drop and proclaimed “sweat” I, reassuringly, replied “I know, Kev”. All Kevin wanted in that moment was to be accepted for who he was. In that same moment I knew that pursuing a teaching career was right for me.
When I boil that story down, it is a little silly: I decided a career path based upon my friend drooling on me. The way that Kevin looked at me when he drooled on me was a look that I recognized and his expression—I know I have used it a few times too. If Kevin had been sitting next to someone else, they could have handled the situation in a completely different manner. That person could have embarrassed Kevin scaring him away from something that he loved to do, play basketball.
My senior year of high school, and Kevin’s, my dad asked Kevin’s parents for permission to play Kevin in a few games. They gave the go-ahead so my dad asked Kevin. At first, Kevin was uneasy about the idea because he knew that he was the manager. He also had to go home to ask Mom and Dad. The first game Kevin played in he scored 4 points. On senior day Kevin started and scored the first two points of the game. At the very end of the game Kevin was subbed back in and went four for three from the three-point line. He was the high scorer in the game. This was a moment like no other. All my dad had to do was provide Kevin with an opportunity and he hit the ground running. In the future I hope to provide my students will a multitude of opportunities that allow them to learn new things about themselves, their peers, and the world around them.
I want to teach because kids are resilient. No matter where my students come from, their level of ability, or what happened the day before I believe that all students deserve the right of an opportunity. Not one person looked at Kevin and thought to themselves, “That kid will play with the Philadelphia 76ers”.
