‘My Favorite Teacher’: Maryland Educator Focuses on Long-Term Impact
| by Hannah Sparling
Victoria Bishop has wanted to be a teacher since she was in the first grade.
She remembers every teacher she had growing up, K-12 in a private school in California. Nearly all of them were phenomenal. They were intelligent, kind, and caring, and she wanted to be just like them.
For the select few who didn’t fall into that bucket? Well, they didn’t turn Bishop away from education. They just gave her an example of what not to do.
“Teaching is one of the most rewarding careers you could ever have,” she said. “However, it is also one of the most stressful and one of the hardest careers you could ever have. You have to have a passion for it.”
Victoria Bishop has wanted to be a teacher since she was in the first grade.
Earning Her Professional Certification
Bishop’s first stop after high school was a private Christian college in California, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in secondary education. Then she earned a second bachelor’s in elementary education from Liberty University.
She taught at private schools in California for several years before moving to Maryland for another job at a private school. Then about two years ago, she took a job with Montgomery County Public Schools, the largest school district in Maryland.
Even though she had two bachelor’s degrees, the colleges Bishop had attended didn’t fulfill all the requirements she needed for her Maryland teacher certification. She knew she would have to go back to school, so she started researching her options. A lot of them seemed convoluted, with too many moving pieces, she said. When she looked at Moreland University, though, it was simple: Enroll in the TEACH-NOW Teacher Preparation Certificate Program, complete the program (9 months), take and pass the Praxis exams.
Through Moreland’s partnership with MCPS, Bishop’s tuition was covered for the TEACH-NOW program.
“That seemed like the simplest route,” she said. “I would recommend Moreland because it’s easy to follow, and it adapts well to a career like this. I feel like it’s easy enough to do with a high-paced, very demanding job.”
Bishop learned a lot about classroom technology through TEACH-NOW, she said, particularly when it comes to editing and annotating videos. She also liked her instructors, especially the instructor for the final module, who shared a wealth of educational resources.
“He knew things about education that wouldn’t normally be put in a program, because he’s so experienced,” Bishop said. “I learned a lot of things that teachers have access to, websites and other resources, that I didn’t know about before.”
Bishop teaches 4th grade for MCPS, the largest school district in Maryland.
‘My Favorite Teacher’
When she initially went into education, Bishop thought she would teach high school history or home economics. Instead, she became an elementary school teacher. And the further she gets into her career, the more invested she is in special education. She’s a gen-ed teacher, but she’s seen students struggle to get the diagnoses and interventions they need, and it breaks her heart. Her long-term goal is to earn her master’s in special education and to become an advocate for children who need it.
Right now, she’s a fourth-grade teacher for MCPS. Her favorite part of the job is seeing student growth and knowing her hard work is bearing fruit. Sometimes that’s academic fruit, a student learning to read at a new level, figuring out a math problem, or learning how to analyze text. Sometimes it’s emotional, a student learning how to better regulate emotions and relate to teachers and classmates.
She’s been teaching now for 11 years. Her first class of second graders is now seniors, and one of them just messaged her on Instagram: “To this day, Ms. Bishop, you’re still my favorite teacher.”
Even on the hardest day, a message like that makes it all worthwhile.
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