Interview with Breeana Merryman

Brianna Merryman graduated from Towson University in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in elementary education, special education. She did much of her preparation at the Northeast Maryland Higher Education Center in Harford County, Maryland.

Mrs. Merryman is a teacher in the Harford County Public Schools. These are her reflections. Mrs. Merryman, thank you so much for coming in and

participating in the Teacher Education Oral History Project. Your experience, especially since it's so Harford County in its emphasis, will help us understand the evolution of teacher education at Towson across time.

I think a first place to begin is at the beginning. So would you share with us your early social context, where you grew up, what kinds of career thoughts you were having, certainly as you started going through high school?

I actually moved to Maryland when I was eleven from New Jersey. So my uncle lived here and he lived right near Towson. So every time we would come down to visit, that was the first big university that I would see and we would visit it.

So then when I moved down here, I would continue going into the Towson area and seeing the stuff around it. But ever since I was little, there was just a desire to be with kids.

I started babysitting at a young age and a long time ago there was a teacher that I had who made her job more than just in the classroom. She would come to a lot of, like, extracurricular activities,

which kind of showed me, like, the desire that I kind of hope to have one day and just made you feel like a lifelong learner rather than just your reading, your math. She brought it more into the whole context of your

surroundings. So that kind of gave me my initial hope to be a teacher. And then as I was in school, I did a lot of the working with children programs in the classrooms where the preschool

students would come in. And I did a lot of, like, daycare experiences as well as teaching swim lessons and I did a few summer camps. So I've always been around kids.

So it kind of gave me that interest to keep working with them. So in high school, you decided that indeed you would pursue that career.

Yeah. It's something that I've... It was the definite in high school, but it was always something. I didn't really have another idea.

It's always been what I've wanted to do. And why did you choose Towson? Just because it was local. I didn't want to go too far away from home when we moved to

Maryland. And just even when my mom was growing up in the area, it was, used to be a teaching college. So I just knew the reputation that it had and just a bunch of

my friends were going there and it was local and it just seemed to be a good fit for me. So you came to the Towson campus to begin. I was there for the first two years, and I commuted back

and forth. It was a hike. And a lot of traffic. Yeah. The parking garages.

Absolutely. And parking. Did you start your teacher education courses during your first two years?

I did. I took some of the, like, prerequisite classes. I was always on the track to do elementary ed. And then after my first year was when I changed it to do the dual

certification for the ESE program. So I started, I want to say my second semester as a freshman, starting in those, like early, like the psychologies and those prerequisite classes that you needed for the program.

And did you have an opportunity to go into schools before you student taught? I was a substitute teacher as soon as I graduated high school, I got into the substitute program in Harford

County. So the way I worked my schedule out was I was able to take classes maybe three, four days a week, so I'd have at least one day off.

So I could do that at least once a week. So that kind of got my foot into the door in lot of schools in Harford County. So I did that as well as just working in the summers.

There's a special needs school in Harford County called John Archer. And I did, I was, like, the classroom leader for the primary kids there.

So I worked a lot of experiences working with those type of kids in the summertime. So, yes, and then as far as the teaching program, I really don't

think I started in the classroom classroom until my junior year because a lot of it I was able to do through other work experiences that I had. Yes, sure. So your junior year all of a sudden you're hearing about

this program in Harford County. Could you tell me a little bit about that? It was nice working here, being able to do my student teaching and my classes in Harford County because it gave me kind of a

foot, like a step in the door because I didn't want to work in Baltimore or Howard County or Anne Arundel County. So being in Harford County allowed all of my experiences to be in Harford County where not only was the commute easier, but

it also made for the opportunity to meet people in the profession already and kind of network and be able to possibly get a job once I graduated. So when you got into that junior year and now you're

taking all education courses pretty much. Were those courses theoretical or hands-on practical or a combination of both? I would say they were a combination of both, but more so

practical. It was really nice because I would say mostly all if not all of the professors did have the teaching experience. So it wasn't like someone was just

teaching you out of the book. They were able to put their own experiences onto it and kind of give you their own advice when you are dealing with the circumstances.

It was nice also because it kind of... You weren't just learning why something was, but you were learning why the purpose of doing it. So you were kind of given the real life connections, which is

really important because you don't want to feel like you're learning something that you won't apply in the real world. Yes, absolutely.

So you started going into schools. We started going into schools actually my first semester, the fall of my junior year, I went to Abington Elementary School for a science experience that was once a week.

And it was nice because it was in the third grade classroom, but you started small. You didn't have a whole class of students. You only had a group of, like, four or five students.

So you were kind of able to ease into it rather than being just, like, thrown into a class of 25. And it was nice too, because you were all teaching the same thing in the science guide.

So you could kind of bounce ideas off of one another and collaborate that way. And then we were actually able to, like, plan and implement a field trip to the Harford Glen, which is like a local

science, like earth nature center in Harford County. So it was nice because from what I believe, they're still using those same, like, types of activities and stuff that we designed our very first year.

Nice. Yeah. So that makes you think that you contributed something even before you were out there.

Exactly. That's cool. So student teaching comes along and tell us about that experience.

It was actually a really great experience for me, once I started in the program, I knew I wanted to do special ed at least for the first part, just because of the experience that I'd had working in the summer camps and with the special needs

students. So there was one classroom that you could kind of apply for or kind of say that you wanted to do, which was a self-contained classroom for the more severe special needs students.

So I started my student teaching in there and it gave me a lot of not hands on opportunities, but just being able to see how to deal and to interact with those type of students.

So I started that in the fall and we were just there part- time, so like two days a week. And then I switched into a fourth grade classroom for my general ed experience, which was at a different school.

So it gave me the opportunity to see two different school environments and meet different personnel in the buildings. And then in the spring we went back and did our full time student teaching.

And I know since then I think they changed the program so you're not going back and forth between the two different schools, but you're at one school for an entire semester. And so it just gave you a lot of that hands-on experience as

well, being able to watch how to teach and then being kind of guided through the experience. And with the special ed opportunities you were actually able to, like, help with a lot of the paperwork so that when

you got into the profession, you weren't completely blindsided. And there is a lot of paperwork. Yes. So when you're doing full-time student teaching and you are in a.. In the spring semester, part of that was with special ed.

And was that a self-contained classroom? It was, I was able to go... The classes that I was in in the fall, we left there and then we were able to go back into the same classroom. Oh, wonderful.

So that was nice. The only downfall to that was that my only special ed experience was in self-contained. So then once I got hired, I was in the inclusion setting.

So I kind of had to learn that co-teaching atmosphere and that type of it. But all in all, I mean, this experiences were the same on how you teach the kids.

Just the approaches were different. Absolutely. So how are you feeling? You've completed all these things and you're getting

ready to to start this on your very own. Are you fairly confident that you... I feel... I feel like the education that I got really prepared me

for working in the classroom. And although I feel like you could learn until you can't learn anymore, it's still not the same until you're in there and you're doing it.

And I still feel like I'm learning every day because there's always changes and every kids are different and every experience is different. But I definitely feel that I had a good background of how

to handle situations and how to approach things a lot more differently than some other teachers that I work with did. I feel that Towson was able to prepare me for the whole

teaching experience, not just the classroom itself. Let me ask you about this. When you graduated, did you know that you already had a job? I took a scholarship from the state where I was able to...

They gave me a scholarship for my last two years when I was in my teaching program if I put two years back into a special ed classroom. So that's why, another thing, I kind of really wanted a special

ed job and I would say probably like two weeks upon graduating, I interviewed for a fourth grade position in the general ed classroom. And then the next day I interviewed for a special ed

position and I was offered both of them, but I didn't know I was offered the special ed one until like the last minute. So it was very nerve-wracking, like, having to make that decision.

But I landed at a really great school and the principal who I student taught with actually transferred. So he's my current principal now. So having that relationship with somebody before you even start

was nice because it was a familiar face when you walked in on the first day. So when you took a job, was it the regular ed or the special ed? The special ed, because I want, I needed to give back.

So it all worked out really well. And so you have now been out three years and I think you mentioned that you are now pretty much tenured. Yes, I'm gonna get tenured the first day I go back to school in

August. But it's been difficult for me because I feel like all of the people who I've graduated with have been able to kind of stay in the same teaching position.

And for me, every year has been different. My first year teaching, I was doing special ed for kindergarten and first grade, but then they did a whole redistricting because our school was so overcrowded.

So all of my co-teachers from then, and a lot of my students, moved to other schools. So then my second year I was still in the same grade levels but with two new co-teachers.

So then you had to start back from the beginning and build a relationship and that atmosphere. And then last year was my third year and they moved me into a general ed setting for second grade.

So it was nice in that I was able to have the same students for three years in a row so I knew them inside and out. But then this year there was a bunch of budget cuts in Harford County so I had to go back into the special ed setting for this

upcoming school year. So having the dual certification really has helped me in that I'm able to stay at the same school and with the same staff, but be able... I'm flexible and able, meaning that I can go back

and forth between the classroom or the special ed setting. So this degree that you got from Towson, which is elementary ed special education, gives you certification in both? Yes, I believe it gives me certification in first through eighth

grade for the classroom and then special eds birth through 21. So it's also given me the opportunities for when I teach summer school. Last year, for example, I did infants and toddlers.

So I was able to work with like the young little babies, which is nice because it's a little break from what you do during the year and you're still able to use your expertise in the different types of students.

So that was a change. Yeah. Very nice. Is there anything else that you want to share with us about your experience as a student at Towson, the program you were in,

or how you're feeling about being a teacher three years down the road? I definitely feel that teaching is not just a nine-to-five job and it's not something that you could... You try your best to leave

work at work, but there's, it's in your heart. So no matter what, it's with you, no matter what, it changes your lifestyle, your personality. It's just something that drives you from within.

So Towson's really given me that experience and showed me those professionals who inspired me to try to be like them in the future. They are not only really very knowledgeable with what they do,

but they also have a lot of compassion for the students and the work that they're doing. So it's something that I aspire to be and hope that one day I could work with people who want to be in the teaching profession

and kind of just, not just teach them through the textbooks, but also just through experiences. Because I feel like you learn so much by doing it and also by learning through other people's, like, tributes and trialations. [sic]

And you're also continuing your own education now. I'm about halfway through in my master's program for instructional technology. And nowadays the technology is all around kids from the infant,

they're playing with the iPads and the cell phones. So I just feel that it's where we're going. So I kind of want to make sure that I'm able to help those students because no students learn the same way.

So by being able to have those different types of outlets for them to learn will help everyone be more successful. Absolutely. One last question, you sort of touched on it already and that's

what kind of advice would you give to an individual who is considering a career as a teacher? Flexibility's key in order to be a teacher because you might have the best plans and the best outcomes, but nothing goes the

way you plan to. So you always have to have a plan B and a plan C because you might think you know what your kids... But they'll surprise you. Kids are always doing this and learning this way, so you

definitely have to be willing to change the way you're looking at something in order for them to be the most successful. Absolutely. I think you also mentioned that this is not a eight-to-three

job. No, my husband, he'll come home at work and he'll be done, but I'm still grading papers or looking things up or making something, or even if I'm just laying on the sofa watching TV.

I'm just thinking about what happened that day and how can I approach it tomorrow or how could I have done this better. So it's one of those things that even now that I'm on summer vacation, I'm still thinking of how I can do things for next

year and what the schedule... Just things like that that you, they need to be done, and you just need to do the best you can. So I feel like a teacher's job never stops. Well, having said that, is this a career that you would

recommend? Oh, yeah, definitely. I feel that, yes, it's a lot of work to do, but it's so rewarding.

I mean, especially working with the younger children and the special ed children, the smallest growth that they do are so achieved, it's so achieving and it makes you feel as if they've conquered

mountains because something that some people take for granted are such a challenge for them. So when they master that, it's such a celebration for everybody.

Yes. Well, thank you so much for talking with us. Thank you.