Hello, I'm Ella Rose Roussel.
Ā
I've always loved history and writing, but I struggled toĀ read when I was younger. I was labelled dyslexic and put in the slow readers groups, and told that I would always find it difficult to read and get good grades.
Ā
Everything changed when my friend, now husband, told me I could read and that the only thing holding me back was my belief. Fast forward and here I am with a history degree, reading papers and books much more complex and dense than I could have ever imagined as a kid.
My First Teaching Experience
Ā
My first taste of teaching and being an educational leader was in primary school when I mentored younger kids through a school program. My second experience however, marked a massive shift in my understanding and belief of school and the title of teacher. You see in high school in 8th grade, 2006, I ended up taking over the teaching of my mid-level mathematics class. I had answered a mathematic equation and I was the only one to get it right, though the teacher said I was wrong. I was so confused and convinced that I was right that I asked my carpenter father who was a bit of a math wiz, how to solve the equation to which he replied "you already have solved it. Your teacher is wrong."Ā
I returned to school and told my teacher and soon he was sending every student to me for feedback on their work and additional teaching when they weren't understanding it. Before long I was the go to gal, some students stopped going to the teacher completely. This went on for some weeks into months until... parents started to get wind of it from their children who were returning home with "well done" written in their books and smiley faces drawn on their work from a fellow peer. I lost my position of course, as did the teacher of that class. The head of the math department moved me to the top level math group and that was the end of it. I won't say I did well in the top -level because honestly I didn't it was mid term so I had missed all the fundamentals. Back in my old math group though the kids did well some of them receiving much higher grades than they had before. A few of them thanked me too.Ā
Still, in my later years of high school after relocating from the UK to Australia, my teachers recommended I didn't do TEE, their major exams for the end of year 12, because they felt I wouldn't pass. I "wasn't University material" of course looking back now, it's kind of funny because I did go onto study in higher education. I went to TAFE got a certificate and after a year or so of working, I then went to university. I was doing well in my studies but dropped out to grow my family. I did goĀ back and complete my degree, 10 years later, and I did it with four children in tow, living on an off-grid farm, with high enough marks to go onto study honours. The greatest lessons came out of all this...
- What you believe you are capable of will be your box.
- What you identify as/with will dictate your abilities and path ahead.
- You have control over your identity and how you succeed in life. No teacher, no institution can decide your worth unless you allow them to.
- People will always voice their opinions, but see them for what they are. Opinions.
- You can change the world no matter who you are, where you have come from, or what you have so far achieved. There is always more you can do, it's never too late.
The Latest fromĀ ourĀ Research
How Thousands of Native Indian American Children Died at School
In 1897, government agents removed thousands of Native American Children from their families, by force. The children were taken to government funded boarding schools in an attempt to blot out their culture and have them conform to Anglo culture.Ā Here's what happened to the children...
Read more
How the āBill of Rightsā Shaped National Identity in America
After the American Revolution there was a growing divide among the thirteen colonies in the United States of America (USA). With many of the people hesitant to agree to a national government. The people had fought hard for their independence and separation from Britain, and now sought to maintain their freedom. The colonies worked together through a provisional government called the Continental Congress, which had no real power over the colonies. In May 1787, representatives from most of the states came together for a Constitutional Convention, to devise a new national Constitution. Which resulted in The Constitution of the United States of America.
Read more
The American Civil War and a Quashed Reading Revolution
The Civil War brought many changes across the United States of America, political, social, economic, and cultural, one perhaps overlooked change is literacy. Many influential voices have given the credit for increased literacy rates in America to mandatory schooling. However, looking at history, it is clear that the literacy rates in America were already steadily growing in 1850, two years before the first mandatory schooling laws passed in Massachusetts. The Northern states showed 93% of their population as literate. The South however lagged behind, not because of a lack of mandatory schooling or a lack of a desire to read, but a criminalization of reading and writing.Ā
Read more
Let's getĀ Social!
Don't miss a beat!
Be part of the EDH Family andĀ Join our NewsletterĀ for exclusive discounts and life changing strategies. Plus get thisĀ Family Activities HandbookĀ PDF download straight to your inbox today!
Ā
