Hello! My name is Ms. Alyssa McLean and I am a Social Studies teacher at Edward Little High School. I love teaching because it allows me to help students learn more about themselves and the world through conversations, exploration, and activities. I grew up in Millinocket, Maine in the shadow of Mt. Katahdin and Baxter State Park. While I was growing up I loved to go to my Nana's camp on Ambajejus Lake, which you see in the picture above. I also loved to read, play music, and relax with friends. In high school I participated in the fall musical, band, chorus, show choir, one act, and jazz band. It was in my junior year that I realized I wanted to be a Social Studies teacher because I had a passion for helping people and history. I wanted to focus on the high school age level because I saw that many students were uninterested in their classes due to a lack of relevance and engagement or because they were dealing with so much in their home life that school was not a priority. I saw this as an exciting challenge to engage kids by connecting their interests to the content and to be a safe, reliable person for students to reach out to if they needed to vent about their personal lives. My parents encouraged me to pursue this path because they wanted me to chose a career that I would wake up loving every single day, since wealth in this life is measured in more than just money. I chose to go to the University of Maine at Farmington with a major in Secondary Education Social Studies where I would learn how to engage students through project based learning, differentiated instruction, and activities designed to address the 8 multiple intelligences. In college, I had field experiences at Mt. Blue Middle School as a one on one student mentor; Mt. Blue High School for a 6 week practicum placement; finally ending up at Edward Little High School for 16 weeks of student teaching. During this time, I also substitute taught at Stearns Junior/Senior High School, Mt. Blue Regional School District, and the Auburn School Department at both the middle school and high school age levels. As a teacher I am committed to creating a safe, collaborative learning environment in which every student feels comfortable to question, share ideas, and explore their interests through the lens of social studies. My students should know that I expect their best but that they should expect my best as well and therefore if there is ever an issue they are welcome to tell me about it so we can come up with a solution. I aim to appropriately challenge students while making sure that every individual succeeds through providing multiple means of instruction so they develop a deep understanding of the material. I plan to help students realize their own ability to create change within society by allowing them to critically analyze the past so they have the cognitive skills needed to invent a better future.