‘I’m That Student’: Moreland Candidate Seeks to Empower Students with Nontraditional Backgrounds
| by Hannah Sparling
“I was always getting fired.”
That’s Katina Little’s first response when asked why she became a teacher. “I bounced from career to career for so many years.”
Fired?
“I can’t even say how many times I’ve been fired. I can tell you: In one year, I had 26 W2s.”
So, that’s how the conversation starts. But then, Little, a California teacher and candidate in Moreland University’s TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program, reveals why she kept getting fired. Because of a violent assault that included so much blunt force trauma to her face and head that her body went into shock.
Because she lost large chunks of memory.
Because her short-term recall was shot, so she’d get a job, go through orientation, and then — forget what she’d been told.
But at one of those jobs, before they showed her the door, Little took an aptitude test, and the results were clear: She should become a teacher. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard that.
So, after peeling back a few layers, here are the real reasons Katina Little decided to go into education:
#1: She was severely bullied as a student and wants to be the type of teacher she needed back then. Someone who recognizes bullying and intervenes. Someone who creates a positive learning experience for everyone.
#2: She’s a natural people-person. She’s a talker. And as a teacher, she can get paid for that.
#3: Her own struggles with memory loss and trauma make her a compassionate, understanding educator. She loves sharing knowledge and helping others. She loves empowering students who may not fit into the traditional mold.
Earning Her Professional Certification
Little earned her bachelor’s degree in business and her master’s in business administration and marketing from the University of Phoenix. Then, her first job in education was as an adjunct professor for the University of Phoenix, working in adult education.
Today, she teaches for Five Keys Charter School, which offers educational programs in 24 jails and nine counties in California for students ages 16 to 96. In any given week, Little could be teaching math, English, government, history, science, even something like driver’s ed for a student elective.
Little earned her own high-school diploma through an alternative program. She got kicked out of high school after another student spat in her face, and she fought back, she said. That was on top of years of intense bullying.
“For Five Keys, when I read the job description, I started crying,” she said. “Because I’m that student. I’m that person that needed an alternative to the regular school system.”
Little enrolled in Moreland University’s TEACH-NOW program to earn her professional teaching credential in California. She’s nearly finished with the program, and so far, it’s been her best college experience to-date, she said. TEACH-NOW has improved her skills in technology and time management, and she learned how to make her own lesson plans, something she never had to do before.
She loves her weekly Zoom class and how, for the rest of the week, she can make a list and check off the tasks one by one.
“In the portal, everything is so self-explanatory,” she said. “It is a lot to do. It’s not easy. But I learned early on that you can eat an elephant, but you gotta do one bite at a time.”
Called to Education
Little is a life coach and a certified project manager. She has her cosmetology license and runs a day spa. She rewrites and memorizes poetry and is well-versed in fashion and trends. But her passion is education.
Growing up, she didn’t really have anyone taking care of her, so she wants to make sure her students know they have someone in their corner. She thinks of a seventh-grade student who was limping in the hallway one day. Little asked him what was wrong, and he said his shoes were too small. He didn’t want to tell his mom because he knew she didn’t have money for a new pair.
Little asked him what brand and style of shoe he liked, and that night, she went shopping.
“From that point on, he was super into his education,” she said, “because he knew someone cared.”
She thinks of all the field trips she’s taken students on, to the science center in San Francisco, to space and tech labs in Silicon Valley, to a live theater production of Cinderella.
“I negotiate my salary so I have extra money to do those things,” she said, “because a lot of times their parents can’t.”
Looking to the future, Little has a lot of ideas about her career path. Maybe she’ll become a school administrator. Maybe she’ll start her own group of tuition-free Montessori schools in the inner city. She doesn’t know exactly what direction she’ll take, but she does know this: She feels called to education. She feels called to take care of students who might be a little different or need a different type of system.
She didn’t always get what she needed growing up. She’s making sure that cycle ends with her.
Moreland University helps teachers earn professional certifications and master’s degrees. Our programs are fully accredited and 100% online, with rolling admissions and monthly start dates.
