Profile of an Educator: Shannan Holman

Holman never planned to be a teacher. She gradated from Illinois State University with a degree in Political Science and Sociology. Shortly after, she began working at Catholic Charities as a social worker. Here, she helped others overcome problems in their life and trained new employees.

“Teaching seemed like a natural progression for me, and it also enabled me to spend more time with my family,” said Holman. However, the career change was challenging because she was a single mother of three children putting herself through school.

She received her masters in Education from St. Xavier University in Chicago. It took her two years; she took two night classes every semester. She also worked full-time, went to school and took care of her children. It was a difficult time for everyone involved.

“I had to chalk it up and deal because I knew it would be better for me and my children,” Holman said.

In today’s classroom, teaching is a very tiring and stressful job. What motivates her in the midst of the chaos is when she can help a student make sense of the world around them. Nine months of tests, grading papers, creating lesson plans and dealing with growing teens seem endless. But at the end of the struggle, Holman hopes they can look around at the world—not just their block.

“I encourage students to see what is going on in the world. [I tell them] there is something going on in China when you fall asleep at night,” Holman said.

Most educators have to find what teaching methods work best with the students. Some just lecture or rely mostly on the text, but she does it with trial and error. She tries to use games and life situations as different approaches to the material.

Holman has taught in both suburban and inner-city schools, like William R. Harper High school in Englewood, located on the South Side of Chicago. It is one of the failing schools in the Chicago Public School system due to low-test scores and attendance. Many of the students lack the stability, encouragement and guidance they need to direct them on the path toward their future. Holman says one of the main problems among black inner-city youth is the lack of parental involvement which prevents them from being successful. As a teacher, she pulls them to the side and explains, “You are in control of your own destiny and you have to depend on yourself.”

Holman believes that the school has a certain responsibility to the success of the students as well. she says that a truant office should check on a student at their home if they have been absent for a few days as a means to see what the issue is and to help them find solutions. She said that if the school board knew or understood the heaviness and the dysfunction many students experience, their attitudes would change.

Holman is unsure what the future holds for her as an educator, but hopes she can help helps lead students in the right direction.