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Education Alumni Profiles: Danielle Wilson ('13)
January 01, 2020
"Treat your students as valuable people. Listen to their ideas and thoughts. Challenge
them that their ideas and actions can change their community. Be authentic and real
about tough issues. Offer grace and forgiveness to your students, and don’t be afraid
to ask for it in return."
Danielle Wilson decided to research Ouachita after talking with a church friend who had just graduated from there. Being from Colorado, she had not heard of Ouachita but always wanted to attend a Christian college. After being on campus for just one week, Danielle knew she didn’t want to be anywhere else.
The summer before her senior year, Danielle visited the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. “I have always been passionate about Native Americans and have always loved their culture. I prayed about possibly moving to the Reservation after graduation.” After graduating from OBU, Danielle applied to schools in multiple states, but during the whole process, felt God calling her to move to the reservation. “I didn’t want to look back after ten years and regret not moving to the reservation. I moved down to Immanuel Mission, a mission that has existed in the Tołikan community since the 1920s, to teach 7-12 social studies, among other things, and have been here ever since.”
When thinking of her favorite OBU Education Program memory, Danielle recalls her time in Secondary Methods. “I loved being in a class with secondary education majors who were in the same boat as me and learning from a professor who wanted us all to be ‘extraordinary.’ The content and activities in the class were relevant to my career and I often refer back to what I learned in that class. The most memorable activity from that class probably was the cross-curricular lesson plan my group and I created for the Space Race.”
Looking back over her years of teaching, Danielle’s favorite P-12 classroom memory is making history relevant and meaningful. “My favorite times as a teacher are when students first learn to love history, start to feel and connect with history, and finally begin asking questions about big ideas and themes. In my junior high classes, some of my favorite times are when we spend a class period as people from a particular time period or event: dressing as them, preparing and eating historically appropriate food, and participating in activities of the time.”
When asked for words of advice for prospective and current teacher education candidates, Danielle stated “It is so easy to become a mediocre teacher and to suck up apathy from your students and co-workers. Fight against this with everything you have. If you feel like you are becoming this way, challenge yourself by planning a lesson that is extra awesome and a little over-the-top to get you out of the apathy rut. Be extraordinary!”
“Believe in your students, and once they see you believe in them, they will start to believe in themselves. The end result is remarkable.”
Thank you, Danielle Wilson, for being a life changing educator!
Danielle Wilson
- Class of 2013
- BA History and Secondary Education - Ouachita Baptist University
- 7th-12th Grade Social Studies, Immanuel Mission School, Navajo Reservation
Danielle Wilson decided to research Ouachita after talking with a church friend who had just graduated from there. Being from Colorado, she had not heard of Ouachita but always wanted to attend a Christian college. After being on campus for just one week, Danielle knew she didn’t want to be anywhere else.
The summer before her senior year, Danielle visited the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. “I have always been passionate about Native Americans and have always loved their culture. I prayed about possibly moving to the Reservation after graduation.” After graduating from OBU, Danielle applied to schools in multiple states, but during the whole process, felt God calling her to move to the reservation. “I didn’t want to look back after ten years and regret not moving to the reservation. I moved down to Immanuel Mission, a mission that has existed in the Tołikan community since the 1920s, to teach 7-12 social studies, among other things, and have been here ever since.”
When thinking of her favorite OBU Education Program memory, Danielle recalls her time in Secondary Methods. “I loved being in a class with secondary education majors who were in the same boat as me and learning from a professor who wanted us all to be ‘extraordinary.’ The content and activities in the class were relevant to my career and I often refer back to what I learned in that class. The most memorable activity from that class probably was the cross-curricular lesson plan my group and I created for the Space Race.”
Looking back over her years of teaching, Danielle’s favorite P-12 classroom memory is making history relevant and meaningful. “My favorite times as a teacher are when students first learn to love history, start to feel and connect with history, and finally begin asking questions about big ideas and themes. In my junior high classes, some of my favorite times are when we spend a class period as people from a particular time period or event: dressing as them, preparing and eating historically appropriate food, and participating in activities of the time.”
When asked for words of advice for prospective and current teacher education candidates, Danielle stated “It is so easy to become a mediocre teacher and to suck up apathy from your students and co-workers. Fight against this with everything you have. If you feel like you are becoming this way, challenge yourself by planning a lesson that is extra awesome and a little over-the-top to get you out of the apathy rut. Be extraordinary!”
“Believe in your students, and once they see you believe in them, they will start to believe in themselves. The end result is remarkable.”
Thank you, Danielle Wilson, for being a life changing educator!
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