Corresponding parts of congruent triangles are congruent. Those who have taken geometry have likley heard this before, as they complete long proofs to prove triangles and segments and angles congruent to each other. But now, there is a new voice in the classroom: Hannah Grissom’s voice. After student teaching at Brecksville High School, Grissom is now a full time geometry teacher.
With a new school year comes new teachers, ones like Grissom. Grissom, now beginning her teaching career, teaches geometry students at Revere High School (RHS). Math is her passion but it is not the only thing fueling her desire to teach. Grissom also appreciates working with kids.
“I really enjoy interacting with students every day. [That is] my favorite part about teaching. . . . I just always enjoy [tutoring] and teaching,” Grissom said.
Grissom had wanted to become a teacher ever since she was a child. With much of her family being teachers, she felt connected to the profession.
Grissom said, “My mom’s a teacher and then both my grandparents are teachers, and so it’s always [been] something that I’ve thought I was going to do.”
Another reason for her career choice was her interest in math. She also wanted to teach high schoolers specifically.
“I always enjoyed math in high school, I like the high school age group; I think high schoolers are all fun,” Grissom said.
As a teacher, Grissom knows it is important to balance different aspects of teaching in order to provide the best, most thorough learning experience for students. Grissom strives for that sort of balance.
“I usually just look at what we’re trying to learn today, [the] objectives, and how you go about teaching it, and then [allow] students to also have practice on the content,” Grissom said.
It should be known that Grissom’s work is not left unnoticed by those around her. Principal Doug Faris values adaptive, intelligent and hardworking people, and that is exactly what he sees in Grissom.
“[Grissom]’s very teachable. That’s a big thing. [Our] math department does things a certain way, and they have a proven history of very, very positive results, very high-achieving kids, [high] scores on the state test, [and] high passage rate for our students getting credit, and so we were looking for somebody that could come in and learn from Mrs. Repp and Mr. Wido, learn from Mrs. Mason [and] be part of a team, and Ms. Grissom had all those characteristics,” Faris said.
Head of the RHS math department Stephanie Mason had similar thoughts regarding Grissom’s adaptiveness, receptiveness and impression overall.
“My experience with working with [Grissom] has been amazing. She’s very receptive to learning. She’s a team player and she fits in with our culture very well,” Mason said.
Mason finds that Grissom being new to teaching offers a more unique experience that differs from what an older teacher may do.
“She’s adding a fresh set of eyes. Being fresh out of college and recently doing her student teaching, she has a very young lense to add to the math department, and it’s always nice to see things from a different perspective,” Mason said.
But this receptiveness that Grissom displays is just one of many qualities people notice in her.
“[Grissom]’s highly intelligent, highly motivated. She’s an incredibly hard worker,” Faris said.
Perhaps one trait that is noticed by those who know her is her hard set determination. Faris knows well that this determination was displayed throughout the hiring process.
Faris said, “I knew [Grissom] was dedicated because she drove two hours for a twenty-minute screener interview and then the next week she drove two hours for the teaching interview with kids, and then a couple days later she drove two hours one more time for the interview with Mr. White and me.”
Geometry is a vast subject with a lot of material to it, and it’s now Grissom’s job to tackle such things and teach it to her students.
“Right now we are learning about triangles; we’re starting to get into triangle proofs,” Grissom said.
Through her lifelong dedication to teaching, Grissom already has made a positive impression on the people at Revere.
