Student Spotlight: Daniel Bostick

May 6, 2022
  1. What program are you in at Relay, and where do you teach?

I am finishing up my second year of the Relay Teaching Residency, earning a Master of Arts in Teaching. I will be graduating very soon - in May 2022. I currently teach 5th grade social studies at IDEA Eastside Academy in San Antonio.

  1. What brought you to teaching?

I served in the Marine Corps for 13 ½ years. I was at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 and dedicated my life to preventing another attack on that scale. A big part of my duties was teaching. When an opportunity came up to retire early, I decided to leave that career behind. But I still wanted to serve the community and felt teaching would provide me with the opportunity to impact lives at an early age and help produce productive members to society.

  1. What’s your favorite thing about teaching?

I love my students. They are all special and unique in their own ways and have a love for social studies.

I especially enjoy helping students gain confidence in themselves. I had a student who was behind at the beginning of the school year -  both in maturity and academics. He didn’t do well on his first exam. He later came to me and said he wanted to do better and asked for help. We came up with a plan. I showed him how to study making flash cards. I would have him read in class out loud and I asked him a lot of questions. His scores started to rise as well as his confidence. He made an A on his semester exam. When he came to thank me, he told me I was the first person to tell him I believed in him and because of that he felt confident. 

  1. How has Relay helped you to grow?

My goal is to keep my students falling in love with learning. Relay has provided a lot of techniques that I applied, and they showed in my students' progress. My 5th grade Social Studies students scored higher than any other IDEA school on every test they have been given this entire year.  

  1. What’s some advice you would share with other teachers?

If you want to be successful, be sure to get buy-in from your students. Be there for them when they fail and be there for them when they succeed. As a parent the biggest responsibility someone can do is turn over their children to you. We must protect them and treat them like we would want someone to treat our children.