Daniel Reed
High School Teacher
Master’s Degree, Education, Grand Canyon University
Daniel Reed has been a teacher since 2018 and came to Tennessee Connections Academy in 2019. He previously taught seventh and eighth grade math. Mr. Reed now teaches world history and honors world history in high school.
Why I Became a Teacher
I come from a long line of teachers. My grandmother, whose parents immigrated from Germany, was one. Two of my aunts are award-winning teachers in Indiana. I even married into a family of teachers. Being a third-generation teacher, it is something that has always felt right. Teaching makes me happy. Talking to and motivating students, learning about their lives, and hopefully sharing a bit of wisdom I’ve picked up over the years is my passion.
The Online School Experience
The most rewarding part of my job is connecting with students. Where else can you host a video game club and then teach world history to those same students you just beat in StarCraft or Rocket League? I love that Tennessee Connections Academy allows for these connections with students. They aren’t just “Hey, how are you?” to a sea of people during a class change in a brick-and-mortar school. Here it’s the start of something deeper, where teachers can invest in developing and empowering the future leaders of Tennessee.
I engage students the only way I can: by telling stories and connecting the students to the material. The word “history” is defined by the Greek “historia,” “a learning of knowing by inquiry.” While this is true and what most associate with learning history, I appreciate the Latin historia definition, which means a “narrative of past events, account, tale, story.” The Greeks and Romans both understood that history is inquiry and story. What better way to learn about history than through connecting these two? Once the students can connect history to their own life experiences, I want them to share with one another what they think and have learned and why it matters to them.
We use #dadjokeday as another way to show how to make connections between two disparate things. Students take turns sharing dad jokes with the class. I make it my mission to connect the bad pun with something we ‘re covering in class that day.
Talking to and motivating students, learning about their lives, and hopefully sharing a bit of wisdom I’ve picked up over the years is my passion.
— Mr. Reed
Make sure this is the right fit for you and your student. Our program is demanding, and families get out what they put into it. We partner with parents to help make their students successful.
Ownership of one’s success is in the hands of the student, which makes this the closest thing to working a real job that you can have in school. Students have tasks and projects as well as meeting requirements (class). Tennessee Connections Academy is an amazing place for families who align with our model of student empowerment.
I used to be active in going outdoors and traveling. I now do those things with my kids. I’m a father of two boys, with a girl on the way. My wife and I spend our free time with them, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.