{"id":121931,"date":"2021-08-05T09:16:13","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T13:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931//?p=121931"},"modified":"2021-08-05T09:16:13","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T13:16:13","slug":"knight-teacher-completes-degree-while-helping-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931///news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931//www.ucf.edu/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931//news/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931//knight-teacher-completes-degree-while-helping-community/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931//","title":{"rendered":"Knight Teacher Completes Degree While Helping Community"},"content":{"rendered":"

It started with an aversion to math. And now Nisha Phillip Malahoo /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201921MEd is fostering a community of learning. A teacher for nearly a decade at Pinewood Elementary, a Title I school in Orange County, Malahoo works to create a classroom experience that/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2019s both exciting and engaging for students. That desire stems from her own background in school./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

“I wanted to find a way that allowed students to embrace math rather than see it as something scary.”/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201cGrowing up, I was never great at math. In fact, I actively despised it. I did not like teaching math either,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201d Malahoo says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201cI wanted to find a way that allowed students to embrace math rather than see it as something scary./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

Motivated to find new strategies and ways to present material that would help students embrace and enjoy their studies, Malahoo decided to apply for graduate school. A former scholar of the Lockheed Martin/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931//Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Academy /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2014 an education, industry and community partnership aimed at improving mathematics, science and technology education in Central Florida /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2014 she earned a master/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2019s in K-8 mathematics and science education this summer./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201cGraduate school allowed me to learn, unlearn and relearn,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201d she says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201cThe professors at Lockheed Martin Academy helped me understand the concepts behind math instead of just memorizing processes. It was like a light bulb went off. I took that confidence back into the classroom and shared it with my fellow teachers. Now I have a model classroom that other teachers visit to see how I instruct my kids./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

Helping Others Amid a Pandemic/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

In addition to her daily role as mom, teacher and student, Malahoo is a strong advocate for her local community. Most recently, she jumped into action after seeing the toll of the coronavirus pandemic./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201cWhen the pandemic hit, I noticed some parents lost their jobs and saw how it affected the kids,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201d she says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201cI live in the same neighborhood as my students, so I observed their needs firsthand and knew that I needed to help./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

One of her first efforts last spring focused on literacy./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201cAfter school went virtual, I would check in on my students,/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201d she says. /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201cMany of them would tell me that they didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2019t have access to books. They weren/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2019t reading./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u201d/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

So Malahoo, who is also a technology trainer at the Orange County Public Library, gathered books and started lending them to students. After finishing one book, they would return it to her house and get another one./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

But when Florida afternoon storms soaked several books left on Malahoo/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2019s porch, she explored other solutions that would provide a safe shelter to keep the book-sharing endeavor going. That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2019s when she learned about the Little Free Library, the world/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2019s largest book-sharing movement. After being awarded a grant, Malahoo put together a Little Free Library in her front yard. Today, the small wooden structure /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2014 almost like a birdhouse for free books /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2014 provides a space for her neighbors to gather, catch up and find the next book to dig into./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n

Connecting with fellow neighbors also provided Malahoo a glimpse into their lives. Through conversations, she learned about their needs /news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2014 from food insecurity to homelessness, among other struggles to make ends meet. When students shared that they were going to skip Thanksgiving because they didn/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2019t have food. Malahoo sprang into action again, this time reaching out to local organizations. That/news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/u2019s where she met and partnered with the non-profit organization Above and Beyond for Change. Together, they were able to secure more than 45 pre-cooked Thanksgiving Dinners from Publix. On Thanksgiving eve, she set up a table in her driveway and distributed the pre-cooked dinners./news/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/121931/n