Margaret Carhart stands in front of her 8th period English class. The fluorescent lights beam on her chattering students as they walk in fatigued and tired from the long day. Although the day has been long and stressful for them all, Carhart is determined to make a difference in her students’ lives. 

Today Carhart is known as an English teacher at McHenry Community High school’s Upper Campus, but she wasn’t always so sure about the path she would take. Before becoming a teacher Carhart had many other career paths in mind. “When I graduated high school and went to college I started in pre-medicine. I wanted to be a doctor,” stated Carhart. In fact, Carhart went her entire freshman year of college with that exact idea in mind. This was until a conversation with one of her professors changed her mind entirely. Carharrt explains, “That conversation with that professor after those rehearsals (referring to play rehearsals she went to) really stuck with me, and I reflected on it and by the end of my sophomore year I knew that I needed to change my major,” Although at the time the switch to a totally different career path could seem jarring to some, Carhartt was able to successfully become the teacher she wanted to be.

A career change was just the beginning of the challenges Carhart faced while pursuing teaching.  While watching students learn, grow, and change can be very rewarding for teachers, the job doesn’t come without challenges. Carhart states that “In general, the growing pressure to be doing everything on my own without feeling like we are not a team working together to help students.”  She continues,“There are so many different… you know ten different things that I have going at once, and I run out of time to do everything that I want to do,” One of the biggest hurdles of becoming a teacher for Carhart is the feeling of isolation that comes with the job. Using technology has also proven difficult at times. Though Carhart has experienced many challenges, they haven’t stopped her love of teaching, even as MCHS has made many big changes.

This year blended learning has introduced many classes students can take at MCHS. Blended learning gives students more freedom to complete their work at their own pace, but it has proven a challenge to integrate into a regular school schedule. Teachers have both positively and negatively responded to blended learning. Carhart explains, “My thoughts are that blended learning, as it is meant to be with the correct definition of it, can be good for many students, but also won’t work for other students.” Carhart believes that there could be too many boundaries put in place that have stunted blended learning’s potential at MCHS. “For example all teachers have to give the assessments… on this day,” Blended learning is currently still in its developing stages here at MCHS, but hopefully with teachers like Carhart backing it up we’ll be able to see what it’s truly meant to be. 

When it comes to the challenges and changes that come with teaching, Carhart is none the wiser. She continues to make strides in her teaching ability and is shown to be a great role model for both teachers and students.