It’s a new year at Eleanor Roosevelt High School which means new students and new teachers. This year we have had a substantially large increase in new teachers and faculty who have joined the ERHS family. With new teachers, comes new faces throughout the ERHS hallways. Plenty of new faces including Mr. Nass, Dr. Anderson, Ms. Selyer  and many more. I had the pleasure of speaking to Dr. Peters-Smith and receiving a better understanding on what it is like being a new teacher at ERHS.  

While getting the opportunity to sit down and chat with Dr. Peters-Smith, I learned as much about her work as I did about ERHS and their welcoming of new teachers. “Yes, very welcoming. Staff is amazing and the students seem very friendly,” says Peters-Smith, as I asked about how welcoming ERHS really is with their new staff. Peters-Smith explained to me that her two weeks so far here at ERHS have been very good and not yet brought any conflict nor any rising issues. Before teaching became a full-time career for Peters-Smith, she attended Morgan State University and studied biology as an undergraduate. Soon after, she attended Howard University for her graduate degree where she studied Microbiology. Before coming to ERHS, Peters-Smith taught at Drew-Freeman Middle School, as well at Prince George’s Community College. “I taught a college class, and I started getting more students that had come from area high schools. I went to high school in the county and found that many students that were coming to PGCC weren’t really prepared for college. I felt like if I came down one level, meaning like high school, that I would be able to help them with that preparation,” says Peters-Smith. 

For Peters-Smith, she never really thought she’d pick teaching as what she wanted to do in life. “I actually wanted to be a doctor, and at some point, I wanted to be a lawyer,” explained Peters-Smith. Just like many other teachers, they have many varieties of job fields to choose to enter, but many end up walking down the path into teaching. “Initially I guess, because I wanted to be a doctor and I loved human body systems. I loved that whole thing, and then it became something I was comfortable with and something I understood,” says Peters-Smith as she explains to me why she chose biology as the subject she wanted to teach. Now here at ERHS, Peters-Smith teaches tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade science. One of her students Michelle in Peters-Smiths Bio class says “She’s a good teacher like she doesn’t just talk to the class she also tries to get people to engage with what’s being taught, and She also wants people to try and learn the information through experience so like when we’re learning something new she wants us to try and figure it out on our own and use our own experience to figure out the answer.” I was curious if teaching at high school is any different from middle and college, and she states that, “Age wise, you’re going to deal with different issues than you are at high school. Preparation for the students is a little bit different.” For Peters-Smith she believes that “being able to help others” and get to see her students succeed and continue to learn makes her want to teach. “The best part is when a student who didn’t know something, goes ‘oh, i get it!’ like those are the best moments.” Peters-Smith recognizes the fact that teaching is important, and it is an absolutely great feeling when you finally see one of your students just excel in their understanding of what they may be learning in class. For all the teachers out there, if teaching consumes your life and you do nothing but grade papers all the time; remember that you are developing these students lives and academic careers into a more successful path. Remember you are helping!