We are pleased to kick off the semester with our teacher spotlight on Angie Mulinix of Marlington High School!

 

 
Angie Mulinix is a Social Studies teacher and Department Chair at Marlington High School in Alliance, Ohio where she also serves as a Lead Mentor. She currently teaches courses in Honors World History, World History, American History and has also taught a course on the Conflicts of the 20th Century. A native of Ohio, Mulinix attended Southeast High School in Portage County before heading to Mount Union for her BA in History. She married her husband Rick in 2003 and they have two “beautiful” children: Boston, 8 and Hayden, 5. Mulinix received her MA from Nova Southeastern University in Teaching and Learning with a focus on Curriculum and Instruction in 2009. You can tweet her at @MrsMulinix.
 
 
 
What inspired you to become a teacher?
Two teachers I had: Mr. Dunn and Mrs. Bucci. I was able to form positive relationships with them. They became positive role models in my life and showed me the kind of teacher I wanted to be. Also, I feel like I am just a natural-born teacher—with my first student being my younger brother. Although, it did take a little coaxing from my husband to convince me its what I really wanted to do. 🙂
 
What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
Definitely when a student comes back and tells you what an impact you had on their life. Every year (for the last 5 or 6 years), a student named “Dillon” brings me chocolates from Heggy’s—without fail. He doesn’t ever say, “You’re the best teacher I’ve had.” But he doesn’t have to. The fact that he still comes and visits every year is reward enough.
 
What are the biggest challenges you face as a teacher?
In my opinion, two of the biggest challenges that teachers face today is student/parent apathy and new state standards and evaluations.
 
What are your favorite ways to incorporate primary sources and/or technology in your lessons?
I love tiering the primary sources and creating activities surrounding them. We use political cartoons, excerpts from books, speeches, etc. One of my favorites is having the students read FDR’s first fireside chat while sitting by the “fire” (playing on the SMARTBoard) and listening to the “radio” (play the speech). I bring the kids cookies too. They LOVE it! 🙂
 
What is the most important thing you learned in your teacher education program?
Honestly, the biggest thing I learned is that you can’t really get a feel for teaching until you are actually doing it—the application of everything that had been taught. Student teaching, therefore, was the most important experience I had.
 
What advice would you give a student interested in becoming a Social Studies teacher?
To never lose sight of why you want to be an educator. Sometimes this profession can get overwhelming and sometimes isn’t as rewarding as you would like it—but always remember to keep in mind the reason behind choosing this career. Oh, and always do what’s best for kids. 🙂
Thank you Angie!!