As you enter room D203, almost immediately the distinct chatter of students is audible. The chatter, as you’ll later learn, comes from a place of genuine enthusiasm from students rather than disrespect.
If you look at the teacher’s desk, you will notice it is always empty. This teacher prefers interacting with students by standing next to whiteboards as she takes the time to listen to each and every student’s questions and concerns. Every once in a while, laughter erupts from the classroom.
This is the environment that Coppell High School teacher Laila Kamel fosters within her classroom, one of comfort, interaction and genuine passion.
Before finding her place as an Honors Algebra II and Precalculus teacher at CHS, Kamel has lived many lives.
In 2017, Kamel graduated from CHS through the International Baccalaureate program. After graduation, Kamel majored in chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. However, Kamel transferred to the University of Texas at Dallas after two years to pursue data science and education, graduating in 2022.
“I figured out about a year and a half into college that I was not so interested in my first major, so I wanted to change majors,” Kamel said.
Following her graduation, Kamel interned at International Business Machines for three months and worked at Google for one year after that. However, Kamel always felt called back to the place where she cultivated her own knowledge.
“I had a feeling at the back of my head,” Kamel said. “I always wanted to be a teacher growing up, and I knew I wanted to come back and teach here.”
In January 2022, Kamel became an Honors Algebra I and Honors Algebra II student teacher at Hillcrest High School Collegiate Academy in Dallas Independent School District. Despite understanding the risks of teaching, Kamel felt wanted to help others find their place through education.
“Teaching is a calling,” Kamel said. “If you want to be teaching, it is very hard [to ignore that feeling] and not teach.”
Kamel’s impetus to teach math originates from the unique framework she views it through and the lifelong love she holds for the subject.
“I like math because it builds on itself,” Kamel said. “Once you understand a concept, you can understand a more complex concept after that, and they all build on each other. Through that building, you can end up solving really complex problems.”
Kamel’s enjoyment of math was also one inculcated by her former precalculus and higher level IB Math teacher Karie Kosh during her sophomore and junior year, respectively.
“Kosh takes time in setting up lesson plans that introduce us to basic calculus concepts and can lead us through every step of each process,” Kamel said as a CHS sophomore. “She puts in lots of time and effort in her work, and she really enjoys it which makes it very easy to be a learner.”
In her two years interacting with Kamel, Kosh observed Kamel’s intellectual vitality for math and her genuine passion for both pre-calculus and IB math. As a high school student, Kamel was hard-working, driven, outgoing and curious.
“She was motivated by grades, but she was not just happy with grades – she wanted to know the why,” Kosh said. “If there was a question where she did not understand the why behind, she would be very frustrated by that.”
As a result, Kosh continued to ask Kamel to become a teacher at CHS.
“I would always ask her to come back and teach,” Kosh said. “She never said yes, but she never said no either. I would always tell her, ‘Laila, come back and teach with me.’”
Kamel’s relationship with Kosh led Kamel to contact Kosh as a reference during her application process.
“When she texted me and another teacher last year to ask if I would be a reference for her [to be hired], I was so excited because we had seen this coming for a lot of years,” Kosh said.
Being back at CHS and teaching in the same department as her old teachers dots the familiar setting with familiar faces, helping Kamel settle into her new job more comfortably.
“I could not imagine teaching anywhere else, to start out at least,” Kamel said. “It is a cool experience having my former teachers like Ms. Kosh and [Math teacher Ian VanderSchee] as mentors. They are very helpful with all the questions I have.”
Having been in the shoes of both a student and teacher provides Kamel with a unique insight on teaching. As Kamel takes her experiences at CHS as a student and continues to build atop them, she nostalgically recalls her own time on the campus.
“It has been interesting,” Kamel said. “It is fun to see the changes in this school and also be able to reminisce on my time here as a student [when I used to be in tennis and having IB classes in the IB hall] and be here now as a teacher.”
The unique experience that Kamel has had as a teacher is seen in Kamel’s teaching methods as she interacts with students. Kamel’s philosophy of math as a subject that branches from itself translates to a style that aids the growth of students.
“She teaches using group work which works very well for me,” junior Sneha Chavan said. “When I have a question, she explains how to do it by referring back to assignments we have done before, and how those are similar to my current question.”
Likewise, Kamel loves making the subject enjoyable for her students.
“Specifically when teaching math, my favorite thing is to help students who did not have a great math experience previously, by improving that experience for them and help them understand math,” Kamel said. “I want them to ask me that last question when they’ve just hit that ‘aha’ moment, and they know how everything fits together in the end. That is the best question to answer. It is really rewarding.”
For four years, Kamel strode across the halls of CHS as a student. As she reclaims her calling and continues to stride, she does it this time with new shoes, new perspectives and a new purpose. One thing is certain though: although Kamel has graduated from being a student at CHS, her traits as a student will continue to carry their way through her teaching career.
“She was passionate about math, liked the why behind it, had a good work ethic, helped explain it to her classmates and worked well with other people,” Kosh said. “She still has that competitive streak. She’s still playful, competitive and she’s still passionate about math as well as passionate about wanting to see students do well. She supports them and holds them accountable at the same time.”
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