Hamilton Freshman School
Department: History, 9th grade
Hometown: Maineville, Ohio
Favorite book: “Talking to Strangers” by Malcolm Gladwell
Favorite season: Fall
Favorite hobby(ies): I love learning new things. Love to be outside and enjoy playing most sports. I love working with my hands and fixing things.
Favorite emoji: 🤦♂️
If Eric Stephenson could go back in time and give his 14-year-old self any piece of advice, he would say “Don’t be afraid to follow an unconventional path. Not everyone’s story needs to look the same.”
Eric, who is an educator at the Hamilton High School – Freshman Campus, has been teaching history in the Hamilton City School District for the last six years. Myriad historical events have occurred in half the time Eric’s been teaching, so how does he decide what stories are going to resonate with his freshman students?
“I like to connect whatever we are studying to something that affects their lives,” Eric exclaimed. “Once I can get them to make that connection and relate to the content, learning really takes off and gets interesting!”
Eric’s curriculum took an interesting turn this past year when he noticed his students were having a hard time understanding how or why the stock market crashed in the late 1920s. Rather than taking a deep dive into a textbook, Eric determined the best way to learn was by doing.
Eric facilitated a stock pitch competition for his classes, where he asked students to spend two days researching publicly-traded companies and pitch their findings to the class. After the stock pitches, each class took a vote for which company had the most investment potential.
“Students got super into it, and I was shocked how well thought-out their reasoning was for choosing some companies over others. They would ask daily for updates on how their company was doing, and debate talk about selling or holding.”
This year, Eric and his co-teacher, Corrie Curran, are looking forward to creating more opportunities to further engage students. They are developing a pilot program called H.E.A.T., which is a hybrid English and history class. The innovative curriculum gives students the opportunity to earn dual credits in a single blocked class, as well as hone their own storytelling skills.
“As a world history teacher, I get to talk to students about a wide variety of topics spanning hundreds of years. My favorite thing is to expose students to information, ask thought-provoking questions, and watch them develop their own thoughts and opinions. Every student brings a different perspective, and I love watching them develop their own.”