Highlighting Hood Alumna | Alanna Duvall, Curriculum & Instruction M.S.'18

My name is Alanna Duvall and I am a Middle School 6th grade CTE teacher. I was raised in Frederick, MD and still live in my beloved hometown. During my free time, I enjoy spending time with my husband and our families, going to church where I sing in the worship band, and writing a young adult fiction novel that I hope to publish one day.

I attended Hood College for both undergraduate and graduate programs, majoring in English with a secondary education certificate during my undergraduate years, and earning my Master’s in Curriculum & Instruction in 2018. After graduating from Hood College with my Bachelor’s degree, I was set on becoming a middle school English teacher. After several temporary substitute jobs during the job recession of 2010 though, I ended up falling into a path of teaching I never foresaw myself doing: Career and Technology Education (CTE). I fell in love with this subject area and stuck with it since. I have taught a variety of different CTE courses for nine years now.

I have a sincere passion for teaching and learning, and I enjoy the challenge of learning alongside my students. This seems counter intuitive as a teacher, but I find it to be the most authentic learning experience there is. When students observe a teacher modeling learning in the truest form by asking questions, wondering out loud, researching to find out more, and trying and failing—it creates a whole new level to the learning environment that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

 

I chose Hood College because I loved the small campus atmosphere, and it was right in my beloved hometown! Throughout my time at Hood College, I always felt so at home on campus. I still come back to visit frequently and always enjoy the nostalgia it brings when I walk around.

Hood College was an excellent choice for my career as an educator because of the extensive education program. The way the undergraduate program is structured with 4 different built in internships really prepares future educators well. Teaching is one of those careers that you certainly need to learn on the job, and I felt that the Hood College Education program prepared me well. It is rigorous and challenging with much real world experience.

There are many memories I have treasured throughout the years from my time at Hood College.  I most enjoyed being a part of Hood’s Intervarsity Christian Fellowship Group while in college, as it strengthened my faith and I met lifelong friends while there. My favorite class was Creative Writing where we held writing workshops on stories and poems we had written, and I feel as though I grew as a writer after taking this course I particular.

I had Mark Sandona, Ph.D. for quite a few of my English courses, including Shakespeare, in which myself and a few friends decided to play a word game we invented. In this word game, we came up with a new random ‘word of the day’ (such as chicken drumstick) that we competed to use in a response to a question Dr. Sandona posed to the class during his lecture on Shakespeare. We had a good portion of the class playing and took score! We confessed our game to him right before graduation, and he laughed and wanted to see the score sheet we had kept with the word list! It was great fun and a timeless and hilarious memory from my time at Hood College.

Inspired by Alanna's story to #GOFURTHER in your education and career? Learn more about Hood College's graduate programs, including the Master's in Curriculum & Instruction by clicking here.