Ms. Ann McCallum, an RM ESOL teacher, often merges cooking and teaching for engaging (and delicious) classes. Ms. McCallum is the author of the “Eat Your Homework” book series which make harder subjects easier to swallow for students.
Ms. McCallum grew up in British Columbia, Canada and has taught at RM for 11 years. “I really love to be creative,” Ms. McCallum said. “I am also very aware of students, so I can see when people are bored. And I don’t want to be bored either, so I’m always looking for innovative ways to get kids engaged.”
Her solution was to incorporate food into her teaching. “Food is universal, so it’s a way to get everybody on the same page,” she explained. “If you are talking about history, you can make the connection between historical events and now through food.”
Her students have reacted positively to her lessons. Ms. McCallum affirmed that “they seem pretty focused and on task.” According to WJLA, for student Gianella Ruiz, “history is pretty hard since it’s not like my first country itself. It’s like a new country for me so learning stuff is very hard and this is making it so easy by cooking.”
Her English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students hail from countries across the world. Sophomore Angie Herrera, who is from Honduras, said that “[Ms. McCallum] helps us so much; she always try we can get the more English possible.” Freshman Victor Otero, who lived in Venezuela, asserted that “I like Ms. McCallum; I learn with her more English.” Likewise, senior Ariana Uwase expressed gratitude towards Ms. McCallum because “she was the one who pushed me; I thought I was going to continue ESOL, but she pushed me to take higher classes.”
In addition to the three books in her “Eat Your Homework” series, she has also authored several books that connect fairytales to math. Ms. McCallum said that she is “really looking at things, whether it’s food, whether it’s fairytales, whatever the connection is, that people can relate to and try to pair it with harder subjects.”
Ms. McCallum recognizes the importance of making real-world connections. Some of Ms. McCallum’s favorite activities in past years include setting goals through making fortune cookies and calculating mathematical elements in gingerbread houses. “I think it’s very important to put yourself in the seat of students,” Ms. McCallum said. “If I was sitting in my own class, would I be bored to tears or motivated to be engaged and work hard?”
Ms. McCallum is one of the many teachers at Richard Montgomery who engages her students daily to create a high-quality learning atmosphere.
