Leeanna Hill’s main goal is to help parents, teachers and students come together for one goal: bringing out an individual’s full potential, in school and life.
Hill’s teaching methods may be different from those of the average teacher. She interacts with students freely and refers to them as “professors.”
“I want students to feel that role,” Hill said.
In fact, Hill wrote a book titled Motivating Student Professors: To Higher Heights of Academic Achievement, A guide for Implementing Teaching Strategies.
“The reason I wrote this book is to let everyone know that what you say is what you’re gonna get. A teacher can either make or break a child forever,” Hill said
Hill offers three basic principles in her book: education is a social process, significant learning occurs through human interaction, and education has to include self-knowledge and self-understanding.
“Having interpersonal relationships is the key,” Hill said.
Hill believes that some teachers are teaching just to receive a check or have begun to become weary with their work.
“You have to have a passion for teaching,” Hill said.
“When a student hits my room, I have to make the difference. Reinforcement encourages a person. When you do good, the students reflect.”
Hill is a registered nurse, a teacher and health educator. She taught in East St. Louis School District 189 for over 33 years.
Hill always wanted her students to become well-rounded in life. She took students to the American Red Cross to learn the basic procedures of how to help someone who is choking or what to do when someone has a heart attack.
Human interaction is one of the single most important ingredients in education, she says, and curricula should be devised to enhance rather than suppress interaction.
Hill does not just focus on teachers, but also parents and what they need to do to help their children.
“It starts at home with the parents,” Hill said. “The child is only with me for so many hours. They’re the most critical people, the parents.”
Hill made sure to keep parents involved by rewarding the parents and by putting a “parent of the month” in newspapers to help encourage others.
“When that parent knows that you’re concerned about their child, they’ll show up,” Hill said.
One “professor” Hill taught in middle school, Johnnie B. Singleton II, recently graduated from Alabama A&M University majoring in accounting.
“She taught me how to be passionate about what I want to do,” Singleton said of Hill. “I learned that if you’re not passionate about what you do, you won’t work to the best of your ability and won’t succeed.”
Singleton has advice to potential readers of Hill’s book.
“Just embrace her, take in everything she says,” Singleton said.
“I never thought I would keep in contact. It’s just great to have her.”
Hill always tells students, “It starts with you and your attitude.”
Hill wants to leave a legacy. She does motivational speaking and is willing to help individuals who may need some encouragement.
“I want God to take me places I have never dreamed I could go. May the work I’ve done speak for me, not me,” Hill said.
Hill has a scripture from the bible that her “professors” have learned, Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
For more information, visit WWW.MINISTERDRLEEANNAHILL.COM.
