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Can you tell us about yourself? 

My name is Aaris. I am a teacher at Maple Lawn Elementary, a fifth grade science teacher for general education. My school was in Dallas, Texas, and this will be my second year at maple lawn elementary.

Why did you start a career in education?

I chose to start a career in education because I wanted to address a lot of the institutional racism and disparities that occur in education, especially in big cities.

If you could have any other job what would it be and why?

 If I could have any other job. It would be crisis communication. I have a degree in public relations and I really enjoy writing.

How are kids different now than 30 years ago?

Kids are different now than they are 30 years ago. Now there's a lot of technology you have to sort of have a blended learning environment. 

How is teaching different now than 30 years ago?

A lot of information comes from online, which is different from 30 years ago when it was just when it was just traditional textbooks and such. So having to adjust use a lot of technology with learning. 

What would you tell someone who wants to become a teacher?

Now, someone that is thinking about becoming a teacher, I would tell them, go for it. It's a lot, it's a blended profession. So you have to be like the therapist and psychologist, the gym teacher, nerves, all of these different things, but it is one of the most rewarding experiences that you will ever get working with children. You learn a lot from them more from them than you could ever teach them.

What would you change to help kids learn better?

It's teaching them how to think. Critical thinking has somehow been lost over the last couple of years due to all of the technological advances. So just reminding people that you still have to be able to comprehend the content and be able to express that you have mastered it through comprehension. And so one way to do that is to explain your thinking. So one way that I can change, um, helping kids learn better is teaching them how to critically think and not just rely on a, B, C, or D for answers anymore.