Faculty Focus is a student life series, featuring a faculty member at Coppell High School, rotating by department, each week.
Coppell High School United States History teacher Hank Cinnamon, deeply inspired by his experiences as a student, strives to be an impactful mentor for his students. Blending humor with discipline, he aims to make learning memorable through creative and engaging references.
What inspired you to become an educator?
In high school, I had a lot of issues with my academics. My parents got divorced and I did not really care that much. I was kind of in a state where I just wanted to do what I ever wanted to, there was not an authority figure who was like, ‘Hey, you are not going to go anywhere if you go down that path.’ Then, I had a world history teacher named Mike Davey and he pulled me up by using my metaphorical jacket straps; he said, ‘Look, you are not going anywhere and you need to try harder and maybe you’ll succeed if you do that.’ I resonated with that, looked back and thought to myself that I like history. I don’t want to be an attorney, and I don’t want to work in a museum, so I will try to be a teacher. That was my starting point. Also, I was a summer camp counselor and worked with kids as a tutor, so I thought teaching would be a good option for me.
How would you describe your approach to working with students?
I like to be stern at times and I like to joke at other times. Sometimes, I will have inside jokes when it comes to references that students have to remember because history is a lot of remembering facts, dates and people. For instance, there is a whole thing about busting up Trump’s trusts and monopolies (the Sherman Antitrust Act), so I show the Kool-Aid man bust bursting through a wall on the classroom screen; I like to bring humor into my class. I have to make sure that I am stern with some students because then they will walk over me. But, I try to make it a safe atmosphere for students to discuss and ask whatever questions they need to. If a kid disagrees with me, I always let them speak their peace and I tell them that I am a relative expert on this stuff. However, if I am wrong about anything, I tell them to make sure they tell me.
What’s a memorable moment from your time at CHS?
It was after my students took their first test because I used to work [in another district], ‘pulling teeth’ to get those students to a grade of 70 or 75. I was like, ‘Wow, the class average is an 85; that is good.’ That was a memorable moment here because I knew that these kids actually wanted to do well.
What do you love most about working at CHS? What are your goals for this school year?
I like that the administration trusts the teachers to be professionals and they trust them to know what to do in certain situations. A little oversight is a good thing, but too much oversight makes me feel like I am not doing well at all. My goal this year is to have a 100 percent passing rate on the STAAR test because U.S. History is a STAAR class, the last one that they will take. I want to make sure that I get at least 60 to 70 percent of these kids to get the mastery badge. I want them to be able to look back and say, ‘Hey, I did really well in this class and I am proud of what I did.’ I want them to be proud of what they were able to accomplish.
What advice would you give to new staff members at CHS?
I have learned that I can trust my students to get their work done. One of the reasons why homework is nearly dying out is because teachers learned after a long time that students just won’t do it at home. However, what I have learned is that 80 to 90 percent of my students do. If I say, ‘Hey, we didn’t finish this; finish it at home,’ 90 percent of them are going to do it. Trust the students to get their work done.
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