PAUL SMITH - Class of 1998
In late July 2007, Hamilton County Department of Education Superintendent Jim Scales hired one of the youngest principals ever to take the reigns of a secondary school in the Chattanooga area. Dr. Paul Smith (UTC '98) took over as Principal of Howard School of Academics and Technology, which has been placed on the state's corrective action status as a result of the school's high dropout rate and low test score percentage. Recently, the UTC Alumni Office had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Smith about his new administrative role, his vision in helping to reverse the school's academic path and his experience at UTC.
Q. First off, congratulations on your new position at Howard. What did you do prior to joining Howard?
A.
I taught English and U.S. and World History for eight years at Tyner Academy. I also wrote and taught a curriculum on African American studies. I then served as assitant principal, in the principal trainee track, at Orchard Knob Middle School for one year.
Q. What led you to apply for school administration and specifically for the Howard principal position?
I absolutely love teaching and for most of my years in the classroom, the students would vote me as one of their favorite teachers. Through those years I learned and developed effective techniques to meet the individual academic needs of each of my students. After a period of time I felt that I could have more of an impact on a larger group of people in an administrative role. I also went to school here in Chattanooga (Tyner Academy) and I felt like I had first hand experience of what it was like to attend a public school in this county.
Q. So how it different being in administration now?
There is definitely more pressure and stress as well as important decision making. Unfortunately, when you are in administration everything you say is scrutinized, and often is mis-represented. I've had to change my perspective from just focusing on students to pulling together all functions as a whole - students, teachers, aministration and even facility staff.
Howard School of Academics and Technology
Q. What are the biggest challenges you feel the students and faculty face at Howard?
It would be easy for me to say that public opinion hinders our school's success, but to me that's not our biggest challenge. Again, to me, I think the only thing that hinders success at Howard is Howard. In regards to the students specifically, it is vital that they begin to develop a better frame of mind for school; that they would value the importance of education. And I try to personally model that standard at all times when I interact with them by dressing appropriately and professionally, keeping my home and public speech separated, showing that I love and respect my wife and children, and by personally reading to further my own education.
I think it's also imporant to hire and retain good teachers. Right now we have an incentive program set up for both the teachers and students to do well and try harder, but eventually they need to have adopt a more intrinsic attitude about the importance of education themselves, rather than doing it just for a prize or reward.
I'm not chaning too much initially, but I'm working on the avenues to prepare students individually. I'm a big believer of that approach. I belive in the statement that if you can't learn the way I teach, then I will teach the way you learn. I want our teachers to be the best teachers for every student.
Q. You graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Education degree from UTC. What led you to pursue education and how did you enjoy the education department at UTC?
When I graduated from high school I was told that I wasn't college material by some of the teachers. So I took some time and traveled around the world. My mother is from Jamaica so I went there for a bit too. Eventually I ended up back in town and my mother told me about substitute teaching to earn a little money. So in 1993 I went back to Tyner to substitute teach. And at the end of the first day I called my mother and told her that I had found my calling. I fully believed that I'd be a good teacher. So I decided to go back and study education. I ended up being mentored by Ray Swafford and Lebron Sturkey, even after I started classes at UTC in 1994. And I was hooked at that point.
UTC was a great university for education compared to other universities. When I was searching for universities I looked all over the country. But after my mother and I did some research we discovered that the graduates of the education program at UTC all seemed to do well at the education placement exams in several states. So that's where I chose to go. And I loved it.
Dr. [Dan] Baker and Dr. [Valerie] Rutledge were great professors. They tailor designed a student teaching experience that just really met my personal interests and goals.
Q. Who was your favorite teacher and favorite course?
I actually have two. Dr. Ward and Dr. Linneman both made history come alive for me. They really modeled the classroom practices on how to teach history, especially using the cycratic seminar where the class sits in a circle and discusses a piece of work, not just for the point of discussion but also so that we as a class would spark understanding as a collective whole. It made me want to pursue teaching history.
Q. What type of non-academic activities were you involved in while at UTC?
The only thing I was really involved in was the B.S.A. [Black Student Association] and the Littleton H. Mason Singers, which was a part of the B.S.A. I didn't want to pledge [a fraternity or social organization] because I really wanted to focus on my academics. And I'm glad that I didn't pledge because I ended up creating great friends with other students in the education department, like Brent Eller (UTC '98), who is now an administrator in Hamilton County as well. These were friends that I probably wouldn't have interacted with if I did pledge. To this day I still interact with them and we continue to share strategies and seek advice from each other. We bonded in our pursuits and were involved in positive extracurricular activities together.
Q. What advice do you have for current UTC students?
The best advice I have for them is like I said above, that is to develop relationships with their professors that are positive and appropriate. That way they would have their finger on the pulse of their [professors'] expectations for the classroom. For me, I got to know my professors very well and they really were eager to get to know me personally. I think that is why they helped to customize my student teaching experience. In the same way, I also think getting involved in extracurricular activities that are again positive and appropriate is vital.
Q. What about those students seeking a career in education. Any advice for them?
First, please continue to pursue it [an education profession]. Be one. We need more teachers. The pay may not be as good but to me there isn't more noble a profession.
Q. What about you, any other pursuits that you are seeking down the road?
Well, I'd love to be an adjunct professor and teach a lower level education class on multi-cultural education. And I am very active with my church and I am hoping that I can balance my work here at Howard with some future pastoral work. But that is down the road. Right now, I just want to focus on our students here.
- written December 10, 2007
RELATED INFORMATION:
- UTC English Department
- For more information on the Black Student Association, please call Tara Mathis at 423/425-1920.
- Hamilton County Department of Education
- Howard School of Academics and Technology
Other UTC Alumni Profiles
