What is your name? Where do you teach? My name is Crystal Drake, and I am a teacher at St. Tammany Junior High School in Slidell.

What subject(s) do you teach? I currently teach sixth, seventh and eighth grade gifted and honors science.

What is your favorite thing about the subject(s) you teach? I love teaching science because I am easily able to relate topics being covered in class to real life situations. I also have the ability to do fun and crazy experiments in the name of learning.

CRYSTAL DRAKE

How long have you been a teacher? I have been a teacher for three and a half years. Of that, three have been teaching science at STJH.

How has the profession of teaching changed since you started? The biggest change that I’ve noticed in the past three years has been the increase of technology being used in the classroom.

Why did you become a teacher? I’ve always loved science, but in middle school my seventh grade science teacher really motivated me to make it a career. I became a teacher in the hopes to inspire other young minds and to make learning as fun as possible.

What is your favorite thing about teaching? I love teaching because it’s never boring; everyday at school is a new experience.

Do you do anything special in the classroom to get through to your students? I love to use technology in my classroom as one of the ways to reach my students. They love working on computers and using ActiVotes. I also give them plenty of opportunities to do hands-on activities in class. Bribing them with candy helps, too.

What is the hardest part of your job? The hardest part of my job is knowing that some students have so much potential to learn and do great things, and they do not push themselves.

Are you involved in any extra curricular activities at the school? I am currently the sponsor of the STJH Robotic club and am involved in the Achieve 3000 program at our school.

Do you utilize any special technology in the classroom? I use technology daily in my classroom. From PowerPoints and ActivInspire flipcharts to Unitedstreaming videos, anything I can do to bring real-life situations to the students I will utilize. I am looking forward to getting a few Touch iPods, as well, for students to use as another learning device.

Have you received any grants to aid you in the classroom? I currently have grant requests through DonorsChoose.org, and look forward to writing more grants as they become available.

What do you do during your summer vacations? This past summer I was part of the Future Leaders of America summer camp that was sponsored by 21st Century. During the 6 week program, students learned broadcasting skills such as set design, script writing, and video editing. It was hard work but the students who participated learned valuable skills and had lots of fun.

Do you aspire to become a principal one day? As of right not, I am not looking to become a principal. I am, however, working on my Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of New Orleans to eventually become an RHT.

What’s the craziest thing that has ever happened while you were teaching? One of the craziest things that happened to me as a teacher occurred last year. My eighth grade Earth science honors class had a project to build a working model of the various types of plate tectonics. One group was responsible for creating a model to explain how hot spots occur. In their working model they used ketchup to represent magma.

When the student squeezed the bottle, the ketchup flew into the air, and most of it landed on my head. The whole class froze for what seemed like a minute and no one said a word, but all I could do was laugh!