Q&A With Dennis K. Nelson III: Growing Up in Camden Made Me The Motivated, Resilient, Caring Educator I Am Today
This story is part of a series of profiles of Camden students turned educators. This series is sponsored by the Camden Education Fund.
“Meet Dennis K. Nelson III, an 8th-grade math teacher at KIPP Lanning Square Middle School.
This 29-year-old Camden native started teaching last July in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is not new to education, but Nelson did not start out in a classroom.
After he earned a liberal arts degree from Rowan University in 2014, with concentrations in sociology and dance, Nelson’s first job was as an administrator at UrbanPromise Academy on North 36th Street. It was where he attended high school after he graduated from its K-8th grade Camden Forward School.
After a few years, Nelson, now a Collingswood resident, became Assistant Dean of Students at KIPP Lanning Square Middle and later did two years as a Behavior Specialist before moving into a classroom.
Recently, Nelson became one of KIPP New Jersey’s 2021 TEAMspy Award winners, receiving the Improvement Award for his school. That award recognizes KIPP educators who create and share academic practices and ideas that help improve the quality of education at KIPP.
Here, in his own words, Dennis Nelson discusses his path into the classroom.
Q. What or who most inspired you to become a teacher? How and why?
I cannot credit my interest in teaching to just one person. There were many. Working at UrbanPromise, I developed a love for mentorship and urban education. I had great relationships with my students. They always said I’d make a great teacher, if I decided to do so. While working as a high school administrator, I would sometimes substitute teach when teachers were absent.
Fast forward to KIPP: One day, a math teacher needed to step out of her classroom for a while. I stepped in. I remember thinking, “this will be the only class that doesn’t receive math instruction today.” So I picked up where she left off and I started to teach. By the end of the period, several students asked me why wasn’t I a teacher. They thanked me for “making math make sense.” From then on, I was unable to shake the feeling that I wanted to be a teacher. I guess this is all because of my students.”