Shenita D. Talton knows she was meant to teach. Her students told her so! The professor of mathematics and statistics can remember the moment perfectly.
“It was my first time teaching a course and I was teaching mature students, working professionals,” Talton remembered during a recent online interview. “At the time, I was working as a statistician for the government and not very happy there. One of my students said to me, ‘You are in the wrong job, you should teach.’ When we all went out together after the last class, as I walked up to the table, all of my students started to clap. I have never looked back.”
Today, Talton leads courses at two community colleges and a four-year university, both in-person and purely online. Her roster includes work for a military university where her online students are deployed around the world and able to continue their studies without interruption.
“The only issue is email! Students often expect an answer right away, but we’re in completely different time zones and day time where they are could be the middle of the night where I am,” she said. “The advantage is that I really enjoy making videos. I even make them for my on-ground courses for my students who might miss a class. Math is very visual and it helps students to see it being done and to be able to watch the process as much as they need to.”
Talton has found interesting methods to encourage her students to think creatively by applying what they have learned. The nature of these assignments also works to combat cheating and uphold academic standards.
“Activities where they have to design their own research project, collect their own data and then conduct the analysis are one way to really engage students in original ways,” she said. “They also learn a lot more than they would just solving problems from a text book.”
Shenita D. Talton worked with The Babb Group to re-do her CV.
“It was so detailed,” she said. “Their writer did a very thorough job. I was invited to lots of interviews and received several job offers.”
That her CV was so detailed is not as surprising as it may sound.
“A lot of people equate a CV with a resume and that’s not what it is,” commented Sheila Fry, COO of The Babb Group. “A resume is a summary of experience, so it is short and concise, but a CV is complete history of everything someone has done to get where they are. People are often shocked when their CVs are seven or eight pages long, but that’s what universities and colleges need to see when they are making hiring decisions.”
Shenita D. Talton has also used The Babb Group’s job leads and applications services, but finds she doesn’t need to any more.
“I prefer to search for jobs on my own now because I know which courses and which schools I like,” she said. “People who are just starting out need to look at local community colleges and get some teaching experience to work their way up.”
After 22 years of teaching, Shenita D. Talton herself has no desire to make any more career changes.
“I’ve done the nine to five and learned it wasn’t for me,” she said. “I love to teach and I cannot see myself doing anything else. I like waking up, turning on my computer and starting the work day. It’s what I am meant to do.”
Dorothy Miraglia
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