Students file into the classroom, sitting down one by one. As she greets students at the door every day before the bell rings, algebra teacher Sarika Subramanian connects with them by reminding them that they are loved.

Subramanian teaches Algebra I and II. This is her second year at Prosper High School.
She said she realized that being a teacher is the best way to be there for students, and make an impact on their lives.

“When I was a senior in high school, I had a teacher that was really great, and just made me realize how much teachers impact kids,” Subramanian said. “And, so I wanted to be able to connect with kids and make them realize that they’re smart – and they’re loved, and they’re important – that they matter.”

Before beginning her college career, Subramanian considered becoming an English teacher because of her love for reading and writing, but she found another way to connect with students.

“I always wanted to teach math – I think math was always the thing I was the best at in school,” Subramanian said. “But if I did something like English, it would have just like taken more years of school, which is fine, but I just really liked math. But, I love to read, and I love to write. So I always thought, should I become an English teacher? But now reading is something I can also connect with my students.”

Now as a math teacher, one thing Subramanian said she believes is that every student is capable of doing math. This is something that Subramanian aims to help her students realize.

“One thing I’ve noticed a lot is just the belief that math is hard, and the belief that there are math people and there are not math people, and I don’t believe in that,” Subramanian said. “I think everyone can be a math person – I think everyone is a math person. And, so I want to change that mindset.”

Every day before class starts, Subramanian puts words of affirmation on her board for her students to repeat to keep up their motivations and change their mindset.

“With math, people limit themselves a lot. I see it with them telling themselves that ‘Oh, I can’t do it. I’ve never been a math person, or I’ve never done well in math.’ But if you’re used to that, you’re probably limiting yourself in other areas,” Subramanian said. “That’s one thing I want to do as a teacher – or just do in general, is to help shift that mindset of, ‘I can’t do this. I need to try harder, or I need to try something different.’”

For Subramanian, making sure to tell her students that they are more than their grades is an important part of teaching.

“Something that I noticed and something that I know is true from when I was a student is how much I cared about grades,” Subramanian said. “And so trying to make kids believe that they’re more than their grades and that even if they don’t do well – they still matter.”

Reassuring her students that even though grades are important, the way they are as individuals is valuable, is a message that Subramanian wants to spread across as a teacher.

“I know grades are important, but I also know that they’re important outside of that,” Subramanian said. “And that’s the message I always try and get a slide or get across.”

Subramanian said that not only does she impact them, but they leave an impact on her as well. Building relationships with her new students every year and seeing them grow up as they go through their high school years is something special for her as a teacher.

“But, I can never forget how much they impact me, and I think that’s something I didn’t necessarily know as a teacher – is how much my students impact me, and how bonded I am – like I cry at the end of the school year every year because I just love them so much, and that’s why I like seeing them after they’re not my class anymore,” Subramanian said. “So connecting with them is so important to me, and it means so much to me, because I just love them so much.”

Subramanian enjoys connecting with her older students in the hallway after they graduated from her class, and talking about how they are doing now.

“One thing that’s fun is seeing my old students that I taught the year before, and when I see them in the hallway, and they remember me, they get excited,” Subramanian said. “And I mean one thing is teaching kids how to say my name at the beginning of the year, and so when kids still remember how to say my name – that’s so fun.”

At the beginning of every school year, Subramanian teaches her students that it’s important to address each other by their names every time they speak to each other – so the process of learning everyone’s names, including Subramanian’s name is something she takes time to build new relationships.

“Having those relationships with students, and still having them even when they’re gone – even when they’re not like in my classes anymore,” Subramanian said. “And getting a bunch of cards and notes from kids, so that’s the thing that I always hold on to that I know that my work matters.”

Building bonds with students, and staff members and reminding them that they are loved is a big part of Subramanian’s career as a teacher. Making an impact on them and then having her students make an impact on her has grown her love for teaching.

“I just – I feel so lucky to be a teacher, I feel like it’s something that I get to do a lot of good in the world, as a teacher,” Subramanian said. “I think there is so much good that comes to me, because I’m here.”