It’s amazing how life comes full circle. I never wanted to become an educator. In fact, when I started college, I chose biology as my major with the intention of becoming a dentist. However, that desire quickly changed after I started volunteering at my old elementary school’s after-school program. I was asked to help tutor students in reading and math and assisted them with completing homework. I instantly fell in love with teaching, and the next semester I changed my major to English—the rest is history. Years later, my brother and I were having a conversation and he reminisced about watching me as a young girl lining up all of my stuffed animals in front of my chalkboard while pretending to be a teacher. I guess the passion was always there—I just had to recognize it for myself.
For the past 15 years, I have spent my professional career working in multiple roles within many educational sectors in K-12, special education and higher education. Whether I was serving as a classroom teacher, team lead, administrator or college professor, I always found a way to advocate for students through teaching and learning. Being able to work with students every day and make a lasting impact on their lives through education has always brought me so much joy.
Despite facing my own challenges in those early days, I felt I could help make a difference in education by sharing my expertise with others. So I remained persistent.
Brittany Singleton
When I first started teaching in 2008, I struggled. I had no experience in the classroom and hadn’t ever done any student teaching. What I did have was passion and purpose. That love of education helped me make it through those early years of teaching. It wasn’t easy, but I dove right in, working as a camp counselor during my summer break and tutoring students in various K-12 subjects and ACT prep on the weekends. Eventually, that passion for tutoring led me to offer Praxis prep for individuals who aspired to become educators. Despite facing my own challenges in those early days, I felt I could help make a difference in education by sharing my expertise with others. So I remained persistent.
Over the tenure of my career, I have continuously worked in underserved communities. I’ve spent the past 10 years working in special education with diverse student populations. While serving in several roles within this sector, I gained experience in holistic student development, instruction, inclusive teaching, mentorship and programming for diverse student populations. The experience has afforded me insightful professional development opportunities that I could then use to facilitate individual education plans and social and emotional learning. I also worked as an administrator for one year, an experience that provided me with extensive education leadership skills, collaborative strategic planning abilities and the ability to effectively engage communities.
In 2020, I began working in higher education while serving in several online learning roles and working within graduate teacher education programs that focus on teacher preparation. As I worked through my doctorate program coursework, I was led to online learning and graduate teacher programs because I began to notice issues that existed within classrooms and that impacted my fellow colleagues. Through these various roles in online learning and working within graduate teacher education programs, I have gained experience in curriculum planning, clinical supervision, conflict resolution and presentation facilitation. Later in 2020, I began doing my qualitative dissertation research on the implementation of effective instructional strategies and educator perceptions in teaching diverse student populations. That preparation provided me with new insights on ways educators can become more successful in implementing innovative instructional strategies to promote academic success. I was led to this research because of the drastic increase in diverse student populations and the need to adequately service this population.
I believe that education is an opportunity to provide knowledge to students and to encourage them to pursue their own passions so that they can fully function in a constantly evolving and competitive society. Teaching is about a lot more than providing a formal education. It’s also about teaching students lessons based on real-life experiences that provide fulfillment and essential life skills.
Brittany Singleton
Throughout my tenure as an educator, my consistent goals have been to close the achievement gap and reduce barriers so that all students have access to differentiated instruction. I believe that education is an opportunity to provide knowledge to students and to encourage them to pursue their own passions so that they can fully function in a constantly evolving and competitive society. Teaching is about a lot more than providing a formal education. It’s also about teaching students lessons based on real-life experiences that provide fulfillment and essential life skills.
Transitioning from an administrator into my new role at D2L provides me with the opportunity to continue to ensure student success. I’m excited about the opportunity to continue to provide educators with teaching and learning environments that are holistic, inclusive and differentiated. Most importantly, this new role allows me to transfer my expertise into learning environments across the world, equipping educators and students from all over the globe with the necessary tools to facilitate teaching and learning inclusive of all students. While I’ve been doing this for a long time now, my role at D2L will allow me to continue to help the next generation excel academically despite their diverse backgrounds. I couldn’t be more excited to get started!
Dr. Brittany Singleton serves as the academic affairs manager at D2L. In this role, Singleton provides strategic leadership, guidance and support for the development of innovative programs in the teaching and learning realm in both the K-12 and higher ed verticals. An effective and resourceful education professional, Singleton brings more than 14 years of experience in holistic student development, curriculum planning, education administration, inclusive teaching, clinical supervision, conflict resolution, presentation facilitation, higher education and programming for diverse student populations. Singleton received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Tougaloo College, her master’s in education and education specialist in educational leadership from Mississippi College and her doctorate in education in educational leadership and administration pre-K-12 from Tennessee State University. Singleton also holds a certificate in women’s entrepreneurship from Cornell University.
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