Who is Elliott Hopkins? by Elliott Hopkins

What are the things you are passionate about in your personal life?

ehopkins0020 — 2025-03-31 04:05:48 UTC

I am passionate about my walk with the Lord, and spending time weekly with the church body as well as quiet time reading my Bible. I’m passionate about my wife and son, and what a gift they both are to me. I am also very passionate about my dogs, besides my human family, they are one of the best parts of coming home. I am finally passionate about education and the impact I make on my students’ lives.

What drives you in your professional life?

ehopkins0020 — 2025-03-31 04:06:39 UTC

The desire to constantly improve as an educator and facilitator of knowledge is what truly drives me in my professional life as I finish my third year in a full-time classroom. I don’t believe we finish growing and developing until we are taken out of this world, which encourages me to continue to grow & learn as an educator.

Do you think education as an institution is meeting the needs of children and adolescents? Why do you believe as you do?

ehopkins0020 — 2025-03-31 04:07:13 UTC

I think education as an institution is meeting the very basic and immediate needs of children and adolescents by providing a structured location that keeps them safer than they would be home alone and encouraging academic development, and provides meals while they are there. However, I do not think our institutions are striving to educate the whole child, but rather it is structured very much like an industrial complex where we pump kids through classes and worksheets around the clock so they will learn to be good little employees when they are adults. While that’s not the worst system, I don’t think we’re actually able to provide a classroom structure that can allow for in-depth critical thinking and individual development because our public school system’s goal is to keep as many bodies in the seats as possible so the most amount of revenue will come into the school’s pocket. Watching the last three years as a public school teacher, discipline is put on the back burner in order to attempt to keep as many kids enrolled as possible, even if they are a distraction or hindrance to the learning of others.

If you could have a magic wand and change anything about your profession, what would you change and why?

ehopkins0020 — 2025-03-31 04:08:25 UTC

If I could have a magic wand and change anything about my profession, it would be to have students in the classroom that all care deeply about their own intellectual and physical development. I’ve taught lessons before to students who cared about learning or at least doing well in the class, and that changed the whole vibe and dynamic of the classroom for me. I feel invigorated and energized when I can tell my students care and want to work hard.

Imagine that you are near the end of your life, what would you hope to have accomplished?

ehopkins0020 — 2025-03-31 04:09:36 UTC

At the end of my life, I believe as I look back, I’ll believe the most important things had to do with the relationships I had with others, and the impact that we both made on each other. I’ll care the most about my family, and then any students who I know I made a difference to. I will care very much if I served God in the best way I knew how and didn’t disappoint Him. I don’t believe my passions or accomplishments, in themselves, will mean anything apart from the people that I interacted with along the way.