Seventeen years at Frost has never deterred her. During her years as an English teacher, Ms. Raddock has continued her teaching journey at Robert Frost Middle School. The bell rings and she jumps right into her lessons, wanting her students to learn and thrive in her class. Ms. Raddock has loved teaching from an early age and has stuck with it ever since.
From a young age, Ms. Raddock knew that she wanted to be a teacher. “On career day in second grade, [she] said that [she] wanted to be a teacher.”
Fast forward to when she was a freshman at UVA, Ms. Raddock fully committed to the idea of being a teacher. She had always been passionate about reading and writing, so she majored in English. This prompted her to become an English teacher, and at first, she wished to start teaching at an elementary school level.
In her junior year, Ms. Raddock had the opportunity to study abroad in London for the summer. While in London, she read famous works and decided that she wanted to teach students more complex texts. So, she pivoted and decided to become a high school teacher
To give her teaching experience, she was placed in middle school instead of high school. She was uncertain whether she would enjoy it, but she was shocked to discover that middle school was right for her. Ms. Raddock said, “Middle schoolers are at the cusp of tackling complicated ideas.” She did have to teach some high school to earn her master’s degree, but she truly loved and wanted to teach middle schoolers.
Although she loves being a teacher, teaching for seventeen years has had some ups and downs. It was tough initially for her, but she gained more experience and wisdom as she got further into her career.
During the hard times, she has a great support system including her family, friends, and a great community of teachers. She said that teachers are “a community that leans on each other.”
Along with relying on her community, she also prioritizes her mental health. Sometimes she will do that by doing a short breathing exercise, or she will go for a run to clear her head. However, she still seeks challenges and refuses to quit. This mentality is not only applied in the classroom, but she applies this to everything in life.
After being an educator for so long, she has wondered if she should consider something else.“It is human to question what you are doing,” she said. As much as she loves teaching, she would ideally want to spend more time with her kids, and that would be her only motive to stop teaching.
However, there are moments as a teacher that assure Ms. Raddock that teaching is something that she wants to continue. When a student cracks the code to something that they have been struggling with, or when they finally understand a lesson, she feels that it is the most rewarding and assuring part of being a teacher.
Although teaching middle school was an unexpected path for Ms. Raddock, she still achieved her childhood dream of teaching. Ms. Raddock hopes for many more moments of inspiration for her and her students in the years to come!