What’s the secret to transforming the challenges of teaching teen moms into a rewarding classroom experience?

In What Teaching Teen Moms Taught Me, author Janice Airhart embarks on a transformative journey of discovery at the age of 55 from a career in laboratory science to teaching science to pregnant and parenting teen girls in suburban Oklahoma. Faced with students who are often sick, exhausted, or distracted, she quickly realizes that teaching is more than delivering content as it requires humility, creativity, and responsiveness to unique needs. With limited resources, she integrates science standards with students’ interests and their babies’ needs, finding joy in the challenge. A DNA lab using Everclear highlights her innovative, risky strategies. The book captures the humour, struggles and triumphs of an unconventional classroom.

Ideal for people in the field of education studies, particularly those working with underserved or non-traditional student populations, like special education teacher, school counsellor and professionals interested in alternative teaching methods.

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Part I 2007: Change
• Part I Introduction: My entry into the teaching profession
  • 1 The stakes: Challenges facing teen moms
  • 2 Teen pregnancy by the numbers*
  • 3 Birthday girl: A new career at 55
  • 4 Mission accepted: Meeting a significant community need
  • 5 Anatomical position: Face forward, confidently
• Part II 2007–2015: Learn
• Part II Introduction: Importance of remaining open to change and to learning
  • 6 Scientific method: Failure is an excellent teacher
  • 7 Atomic principles: Students can be teachers too
  • 8 Divided: Take risks but know your limits
  • 9 Skeletal system: Schools provide valuable support systems for students
  • 10 Life cycles: Prepare students to move independently into the world
  • 11 Nomenclature: Learn correct names, then use them
  • 12 DNA extraction lab: Find what works and repeat as necessary
  • 13 Dissecting food chains: Preview all class materials thoroughly before presenting them to students
  • 14 Magic city: Lessons shaped by passions or convictions often have a greater emotional impact
  • 15 End of instruction: Honest concern for students’ welfare is key to their academic success
  • 16 Technophilia: Don’t place too much faith in structures alone; technology is a means to an end
  • 17 Controlled variables: Recognize biases and work to overcome them
  • 18 Momentum: Newton’s Second Law: Don’t underestimate students’ abilities
  • 19 Bernoulli’s Principle: All students can learn if they’re given enough encouragement
  • 20 Tectonic shifts: Meeting students where they are promotes trust
  • 21 When women do better: We all do better when women do better
  • 22 Eight years: Humility and empathy are a teacher’s most powerful assets
• Part III 2015–2024: Grow
• Part III Introduction: Leaving the high school classroom
  • 23 Philosophically speaking: An evolving view of educational philosophy
  • 24 Getting social: Following students beyond the classroom
  • 25 Subject to change: Maintain curiosity and an open mind
• Recommended projects and discussions
• References
• Recommended further reading
• About the author
• Index

Janice Airhart was a medical technologist, researcher, educator, and writer. She volunteers in child literacy and poverty programs, leading a regional reading initiative for struggling students at an underperforming school.