Do you think you can do something for more than 30 years of your life and still have a strong passion for it? Mrs. Adkins is the prime example. Debra Adkins being her full name, but we come to know and love her as Mrs. Adkins, a friend, an educator, a pet advocate, English teacher, AP grader, and just a loving human being, but not nice. Never call Mrs. Adkins nice.
Born in Washington DC, Mrs. Adkins taught in Maryland her entire life, with 36 years in Montgomery County. Adkins has overcome her fair share of adversity such as growing up broke with a single mother after her father died from cancer when she was six years old. Adkins has four brothers, with a mother who never graduated high school so her family was forced to live with their grandmother; which served as great motivation for her to work hard to get a full ride to the University of Maryland, which then led to her teaching career.
Adkins has taught all over Montgomery County, in schools such as Springbrook, Einstein, Kennedy, BCC, and Paint Branch twice because she left to be the head of the English department at White Oak middle school and to teach IB programs at other schools. She has seen generations change, but the tricks are all the same which she is well aware of; never try to pull a fast one on Mrs. Adkins, you won’t get away with it. Being very observant and having the ability to read people well, she is able to form good relationships with students even though she can be blunt at times; it’s all out of love though.

I questioned Adkins about her experiences as a teacher from beginning to present. Adkins said that, compared to how she was when she first started, she’s a lot more assertive. Adkins stated, “When you’re young, you do as you’re told, but when you’re old you know what works and what doesn’t,” which proves that she is seasoned enough to understand the methodical routines that are efficient and inefficient. Adkins is capable of taking what doesn’t work and making it into something that does work for the greater good of her students.
When she started out, she claimed that everything was stressful and done from scratch because there was less technology being used, and she couldn’t just take another teacher’s lesson plan to teach to the students. All the planning and teaching was done primarily by herself which she described as “reinventing the wheel,” which exemplifies perseverance and dedication because she never gave up on her dream of being a teacher.
Mrs. Adkins is a teacher who really cares for her students and about their education. She is more about individual students’ learning and not about treating them all as “blocks” because she feels that group evaluation is disregarded and that “we have lost a sense of individualizing.”
Mrs. Adkins also works to assist students with actually learning and not just about making them memorize what will be on the test. She explained, “I want kids to learn how to think and not how to pass a test,” which should be the motive of all teachers.
Mrs. Adkins learned a lot from her experiences. I asked what she has learned and she responded with, “it would be how to read people and how to know what someone will do… The most important thing in the world is knowing people.” She elaborated by saying how she closely analyzes character, actions and how one talks about situations and about others.
When I asked what she thinks about the educational system, she explained that teachers used to have autonomy, meaning they would implement things to fit the needs of the students, but now teachers just make the students fit the needs of the tests. Everything is powered by the desire to outperform other counties, states, and countries, as seen most clearly by all the standardized tests like the PARCC exam. The curriculum is not enriching enough and Adkins believes there should be TechEd courses in which students learn how to work basic technology in an effective manner. She added that “every student needs to know the basics.” She included that there should also be a Home Economics course so students can learn basic cooking and household management.
Personally, my experiences with Mrs. Adkins have all been great ones. From the first day I encountered her, she exuded respect with her “I don’t play games” attitude and with the way she gave off a motherly glow. She immediately took a liking to me for my curiosity in words and eagerness to learn. Mrs. Adkins has taught me English, assisted with getting into college, and offered me a good job opportunity. She is highly appreciated as a Good Samaritan and a compassionate teacher. Mrs. Adkins plans to retire at the end of this school year; Mrs. Adkins’ final words of advice were to “follow your passions, and your path in life will unfold in front of you,” and knowing her biggest accomplishments were helping students receive full rides and such, just proves all she ever wanted to do was give back and help students get to where they want to be. You’ll be missed Mrs. Adkins, thank you for all you’ve contributed to the PB community.