Coming in as a freshman at Blackburn College can be a little difficult at first. But what is it like coming in as a new teacher? Dr. Sherry Sullivan is the newest professor in the education department and many students do not seem to know much about her yet.
Sullivan spent some of her career teaching a variety of subjects and grade levels in southern Illinois. She later taught at John A. Logan Community College in Carterville, Illinois. Sullivan earned her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before eventually coming across Blackburn College. “I had been teaching at a community college, and due to our Illinois budget crisis, it looked as if I was going to get laid off because I was at the top of the salary scale,” Sullivan said. “I really wasn’t ready to stop teaching, but I knew that I wouldn’t be staying there. I investigated a lot of different places within the state of Illinois. I came across Blackburn and liked the values that it represented. I thought it fit in really well with my values.”
One of Sullivan’s students, sophomore secondary education history major Samantha Cranmer, stated, “She’s really sweet. I like her teaching style because she incorporates activities we can use in our own classrooms into hers.”
Due to the small staff in the education department, education majors will definitely have a class with Sullivan at some point in time. Currently, she is teaching philosophy and instructional methods in the middle school and educational psychology.
Curriculum philosophy and instructional methods in the middle school (ed304)
Although she is a bit overwhelmed by a new environment and new students, Sullivan feels that her classes will be enlightening since she has been teaching in college for over 20 years and has gained a lot of experience in the field.