1. MARQUES MESHACK EDU650: Teaching, Learning and Leading in the 21 st Century Professor Champ

2. My name is Marques Meshack and I am originally from San Diego, California, but moved to Atlanta to complete my undergraduate program. As a child I enjoyed reading, geography(wildlife and beaches) and sports and as an adult I still do. My parents always kept books around me and this allowed me to never lose sight of the importance of reading. Moreover, since San Diego has one of the best zoos in the world, I became an avid fan of wildlife. The Wild Animal Park as well as the Sea World also became some of my favorite places to visit as a child and currently during my annual summer trip to San Diego, I still make it a priority to visit. In addition, San Diego’s climate allowed me the opportunity of playing outside during all seasons, thus enabling me to become a competitor and pretty good athlete. I became good at basketball, football and baseball, with baseball becoming my primary love until I got injured during my senior year of high school and had to pursue other options, which allowed me to relocate to Atlanta, Georgia to pursue what life would be like outside of sunny San Diego. Upon moving to Atlanta and graduating from college, I became a teacher for a few years, teaching Social Studies at the Middle Grades Level. Due to the birth of my first son, I decided to pursue other areas to help support my child and became an entrepreneur and personal trainer as well as continuing to work in the school system but only as a substitute teacher which allowed me flexibility and the ability to still make a connection in the classroom which is my passion.

3. As a child I attended public school in San Diego, California known as Johnson Elementary. After graduating from Johnson Elementary, I moved on to Keiller Middle School and Lincoln High which also were public schools. I can vividly remembering having some excellent teachers who were good role models and during my high school stages, a few encouraged me to seek teaching as an option because they felt I could make an impact. One particular Science teacher named Mr. Jackson would hold me after class, and ask me what I wanted to do later on in life. Of course I was a juvenile at the time so I responded with “I want to become a professional baseball player”. He would always chuckle and ask me what else I would want to become which I would respond with, “I do not really know”. I told him perhaps a C.P.A like my father but was not really concrete with my answer. He then went on to tell me how he felt I might need to think about becoming a teacher and teaching Science, in particular. I asked him why and he would respond with “because you seem to take it serious at an early age unlike most of my peers who felt it was boring and did not ask too many questions”. This really made me become even more fascinated with science especially chemistry during my early years in high school. However, I never made the transition of becoming a Science teacher but I did become a Social Studies teacher, which made him equally proud.

4. In the future I plan on becoming a professor of History at University or College in Atlanta, Georgia where I currently reside or San Diego, which is my hometown and a dream of mine to be able to own a home off the coastline of San Diego. I would like to teach for 5 years and then move on to becoming a principal or own and operate my own school to implement some things that I feel can be valuable to education that is not currently in usage such as study hall in middle school and high school for two periods where students get extra help in any subject that they are struggling in without having to attend after school tutorial and introduce a program that teaches students in high school about preparing for a career or trade similar to a college apprenticeship program.

5. A Master’s degree will give me the ability to compete with an ever changing economy, where I will have the essential credentials to be considered qualified to teach at the college level. Without a master’s degree my chances of teaching college are slim to none but with a master’s degree my percentages of gaining employment go up tremendously, especially since I would like to teach at the college level, with History being my subject matter.

6. This is a quote that helps me stay motivated and symbolizes my belief in education: “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”. (Malcolm X)