Faculty Focus is a student life series featuring a faculty member at Coppell High School, rotating by department each week.
Coppell High School chemistry teacher Sarah Harris understands that each of her students is unique, whether in their learning styles or interests outside of the classroom. Harris uses this understanding to foster a comfortable learning environment for each student, helping them to grow along the way.
What inspired you to become an educator?
At first, I did not want to be a teacher because all of my family are teachers – my mom, her sister, their mom, their dad, my dad’s mom, my stepdad, my big brother and my cousins. I did not want to get sucked into this teacher black hole in our family. I went to college and graduated with a degree in biology, and I did not really know what I wanted to do at the time. My mother is a chemistry teacher at the high school I graduated from, and she told me there was an opening. The guy who taught IPC (International Primary Curriculum) was not doing a good enough job, so my mother asked if I could come, teach for one year and just help her iron out the program. I did it for one year, and I thought the kids were great. Then, I thought I wanted to be a dental hygienist but needed some more money, so I would keep teaching for another two years. I did two more years and thought, “I kind of like this” I just started liking it more and more, getting better the longer I did it.
How would you describe your approach to working with students?
Your approach has to be unique for every kid because every kid is unique. With some kids, you have to know that they are not going to be super chemists. You have to meet them where they are and adjust as you need to for them to learn the basic skills they need. Some kids, such as honors students, really want you to push them more and more, wanting to know everything, and you have to adjust to that as well. You have to teach them to feed that little bit of hunger that some of them have while not losing the ones that do not care at all. It is a lot of adjusting to what you have to take care of as a whole group and what you individually have to do.
What is a memorable moment from your time at CHS?
This year has been very memorable in general. I got Teacher of the Month this year and that meant a lot to me, being recognized by the students, community, my fellow teachers and my administration. To have your effort recognized is really valuable.
What do you love most about working at CHS? What are your goals for this year?
What I love most is the administration. They are supportive, consistent and personable, and they understand that while work is very important, it is not the most important thing in your life. That is a really good thing to seek out in any job that you do – that they understand that first, you are a human and not just an employee. My goal each year is to be a better teacher than I was the year before by finding new ways to challenge kids and inspire learning. Every year, all of the kids are different than the year before and you have to adjust to that, having to be extremely flexible as a teacher. You want to give the kids the best version of you, and the best opportunity to learn. I want to be the best for them, and the only way to do that is to get better every year.
What advice would you give to new staff members at CHS?
The kids will stress you out because they get really stressed out, so just relax. I think it is easy to get roped into academically doing so much that you forget that they are little humans too, that it is OK to have fun and that it is good to get to know them. They are not just students, but they are kids and they have their own desires and fun things to do, so I think it is really good to go support them. I love going to the football, softball and volleyball games, along with just all of the things that kids are actively participating in. It is really fun whenever the kids ask you to come to the teacher appreciation nights, and I really think you should go to those. Be patient with your students, have fun and go support them outside of your class.
Follow Sohana (@sohanas_4841) and @CHSCampusNews on X.
