Back to School With Baltimore’s
Teacher of the Year, Sidney Thomas

By Amaya Burke | September 1, 2021

Pathway to the classroom

“Really and truly, I did not want to be a teacher,” said 2021 Baltimore City Teacher of the Year, Sidney Thomas, said with a laugh.

Sidney had dreams of becoming a lawyer or psychologist when she was in high school, and in college, becoming a school teacher was not on her list of future careers. She ended up taking some education courses during one of her semesters of her undergraduate at Milsaps College when she missed the enrollment for the psychology and law course she originally wanted to take. That decision ultimately led her to switching her major. 

“I think it was like a calling that just sort of happened, and placed me where I needed to be… [it] ended up being something that I don't feel like is a job and is more like a passion.”

She later attended Jackson State University for her Masters degree. Sidney reflected on her time at a predominately white institution (PWI) vs. a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). “I kind of felt like an outsider going there...however when I went to Jackson State, I felt more community and connected.” Sidney mentioned that they read a lot more books by Black authors which gave her a new historical perspective--one that she would later embed in her own curriculum as a teacher.

Inspired Teaching

Several times throughout our conversation, Sidney mentioned Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi, a book that explores the origins of race and anti-blackness within society and how it impacts us today. In her classroom, it helped explain some of the “why” questions her students were asking about slavery, Jim Crow and other topics about race. The book created tough discussions in Ms. Thomas’s classroom. 

“Safe and honest spaces should be provided for students to express their thoughts about recent events,” said Sidney. She mentioned the discussion she had with her class about the January 6th breach of the U.S. Capitol building.

“My students came to me and we learned about it.” She says doesn't sugarcoat during her lessons, but she does go through them with care because, “you can do harm to students depending on how you present information to them.” 

As a history teacher, Sidney believes learning about history and race are beneficial to everyone, not just Black students and not just during Black History Month. “It's important to have in the curriculum so it's just not a one-off thing, it should be understood from September to June,” she says.

“There shouldn't be sprinkles of things related to African-American history, the history of native people and the current events related to it, it should be all the way through it [the curriculum].” Sidney also believes that highlighting the triumphs during this time is just as important as everything else is when it comes to teaching history. 

Celebrating Student Voice

As a former English teacher, Ms. Thomas still finds ways to work creative writing into her lessons. She helps build her students' confidence in writing by supporting and providing structure and the necessary steps for them. She recently had her students write what Baltimore means to them (and some were even published in CHARM). 

“Students have power and wonderful ideas that should be listened to,'' Sidney said, speaking about why youth voices matter. “It's important to not write off students because they are minors.” 

Sidney is so passionate about students using their voices that she became an advisory board member for CHARM this past year. Sidney found out about CHARM through Twitter and just thought it was really cool that students in Baltimore were creatively using their voices. 

“Students' voices are the center of it all,” she says as she talks about why she joined. One of her favorite things about being on the board is seeing people from different backgrounds use their skills to help support CHARM.

Sidney briefly mentioned how the pandemic affected her time teaching. “It was difficult and isolating at times.” But at the end of it, she still came up on top--literally--as Baltimore City Public Schools’ 2021 Teacher of The Year. She is very proud to represent Baltimore City Schools statewide. We wish her the best of luck!