Sydney : Hello my name is Sydney. The school paper is putting together a feature story about black teachers at Atholton for Black History Month. We are celebrating Black faculty members and highlighting their impact on Atholton student body. I was hoping I could interview for these brief questions.
Ms. Hinson : Sure
Sydney : So Ms. Hinson, I wanted to know where you went to college?
Ms. Hinson : So I first went to Hofstra University, which is in Long Island, New York. And did that for my bachelor’s. For my master’s I went to Brooklyn college, and currently I am going to Virginia Commonwealth University for my EDD.
Sydney : Why do you want to get your EDD?
Ms. Hinson : I eventually want to be able to open my own school. I think that the current educational system doesn’t necessarily fit or work for all students. So I wanna be able to open my own school eventually.
Sydney : Why did you become a teacher?
Ms. Hinson : I became a teacher, probably for the exact reason I just said. I don’t think that regular education works for everybody, for every student. And so I wanted to be that teacher who could make learning fun. Make it a thing where students want to learn.
Sydney : How long have you been teaching?
Ms. Hinson : This is my fifth year teaching. I taught 2 years in New York and then this is my third year here in Maryland.
Sydney : How was it in New York?
Ms. Hinson : I love New York
Sydney : Me too
Ms .Hinson : Yes I love teaching in New York
Sydney : Has Atholton made an impact on your teaching?
Ms. Hinson : Definitely, this school I came from was so superstructure, and so it is very different coming to Atholton, where it’s actually a lot more lax. And so being able to have sort of that lax environment has helped me to be able to do more fun things with my lessons and stuff like that. So I think I’ve been able to teach a little bit better here.
Sydney : What’s something you love to do as a teacher?
Ms. Hinson : I love to look at documents. I know my students probably hate it, but I love looking at primary source documents and trying to understand what was actually happening in that time being
Sydney : Yea it depends what happens in the documents for me, like some things I don’t find interesting. If I don’t find it interesting I’m not gonna read it.
Ms. Hinson : That makes complete sense
Sydney : have you faced particular challenges as a Black Teacher?Ms. Hinson : I would say the hardest challenge that I’ve had is ooh that’s hard. Honestly I haven’t had a lot of challenges here, but in my last school I have had a lot of challenges in terms of trying to get people to understand the importance of African American History. And not just the Eurocentric history that we usually listen to.
Sydney : Oh like the cover up
Ms. Hinson : Exactly
Sydney : How do you build relationships with the students, teachers and people?
Ms. Hinson : I try to listen. I think my students have a lot to say and they go through a lot in life. So I try to just listen to what they have to say and people in general. People are always going through things. So I think the best thing to do is just listen to people, ask questions if you want to know more about everything that’s going on. Yeah just get to know them a little bit.
Sydney : How important do you think it is to have a diverse faculty?
Ms. Hinson : I think it’s extremely important to have a diverse faculty. We have a very diverse school system at Atholton; it’s like 30% black and so I think it’s important for the teachers to match the diversity of this school. And unfortunately, right now I don’t think that is the case. I think Howard County is working towards it, but I definitely think diversity is important so students see people who look like them.
Sydney : Do you make an effort to incorporate your culture into your teachings? If so, how do you do it?
Ms. Hinson : Definitely! I teach AP African American studies. So with that I like to be able to include sort of like my own history and just try to teach students a little bit more about why our history is so important. Again, we don’t learn it a lot in our classes, so I think I try to just get students to understand why it’s so important to even learn that history.
Sydney : So going back to what you had said about the percentage of Atholton. Atholtons student body is around 30% black. Do you think that percentage should be mirrored in the faculty?
Ms. Hinson : Yes. I do. I think that, again, I do think the faculty should match the diversity of the school. We have a very diverse school district. Students need to see teachers that look like them too.
Sydney : Exactly, according to a Baltimore sun article from 2023, only 10.7% percent of educators in HCPSS are black. Given this information do you think that Howard County should be trying harder to have more diversity?
Ms. Hinson : I do. I think but I do think that Howard County is trying, so I will give it to them. They have done a lot of teacher of color events, things like that, trying to get teachers of color to come here. I think the field in general just doesn’t have a lot of teachers of color. So I don’t necessarily think it’s HCPSS’s fault. I think it is a society, a system issue in which we don’t have enough black teachers in general.
Sydney : Right. I agree. Okay well that was all my questions. Thank you Ms. Hinson!
Ms. Hinson : Those were good questions.
Sydney : Thank you.
