Imagine walking into a classroom, not as a student anymore, but as their teacher with very little experience with children under your belt. It was gut check time for me, time to see if this would be my career or not (Version 2).
We Hope You Can Swim!
I imagined being eased into it over time, which I was, but when the day came that I was to “take over” two classes, I was certainty quite nervous. The school I did my student teaching in did not have a great reputation. The year prior, my master teacher had been carjacked just around the corner from the school, in broad daylight.
It was almost a given that some students would be killed in gang related violence or from outright neglect during the school year and by the way, it was a Middle School (grades 6-8). Almost every time I walked the halls for whatever reason, I would see students being taken away in handcuffs by sheriffs or campus police. Safe to say, I was not in Kansas anymore.
The First Full Lesson Plan
The lesson plan was fairly simple, popcorn reading of the textbook and answering review questions. Watching my master teacher, it looked pretty easy. I did not have an appreciation for how the teacher had built positive relationships with the students to get them to where it looked “easy”.
I got in front of the class, not really knowing a lot names, feeling a little out of place as a Caucasian male in a class of largely Hispanic and African-American students. I kept thinking about the movie “8 Mile” that had recently come out. The main character “Eminem” had gone through major trials to try and become a rapper, competing in brutal rap battles as literally the only light-skinned person in the room.
I started the lesson, the adrenaline shot through my veins. I looked at my master teacher who smirked at me. I tried to follow my lesson plan: link prior learning, objectives, standards, and to my chagrin the class seemed to be following along. Pretty soon, I was relaxing more and asking questions of the students, using the seating chart effectively, and making inferences about the curriculum.
The Realization
The students actually seemed to appreciate what I was doing and gave me positive feedback. When a few of them started getting off task, my master teacher yelled at them something to the effect of, “What the hell do you think your doing?” and the students got back on task.
At the end of the lesson, the kids filed out, and I realized that this was something I could do, but it was going to take a lot of work, and boy was I right! Teaching, especially in its current incarnation in American schools presents a myriad of problems to be overcome, from overcrowded schools, underfunded classrooms, ineffective disciplinary techniques, enabling parents, and then of course actually trying to teach.
Epilogue
Twenty years later, I am still at and have found it to be a very rewarding career. The challenges actually keep me motivated because I get bored easily. I get paid to coach soccer and have spent a lot of time with my kids as they have grown up. Overall, it has been a very positive experience.
Resources for Those Considering a Career in Education
- Teach.org – A comprehensive resource for those considering a career in teaching.
- Teachers of Tomorrow – Offers information on alternative teacher certification programs.
- EducationDegree.com – Provides information on various education degrees and career paths.
- Teach for America – A program that recruits and trains recent college graduates to teach in underserved schools.
- National Center for Alternative Certification – Offers information on alternative routes to teacher certification.
- Teaching Channel – Provides resources, videos, and lesson plans for teachers.
- Edutopia – Focuses on innovative teaching methods and educational best practices.
- American Federation of Teachers (AFT) – A union site that offers resources for both current and aspiring teachers.
- National Education Association (NEA) – The largest professional organization for teachers in the United States, with resources for educators.
- Teach Away – A platform that connects teachers with international teaching opportunities.
OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com
Thanks for reading the Life-Long Learning and Education Blog! If you happen to be looking at a career in education and have questions, feel free to ask!
Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and follow. Check out some of my other recent posts. I am going to write a sequel to this post about some of the crazy things that happed during my student teaching, stay tuned!
What are your thoughts on this?