University High School has many staff members, including teachers, administrators and counselors. Every year, there are also student teachers on campus who are studying to become teachers. Currently, four student teachers at UHS are actively working toward getting their teaching credentials in various departments on campus.
Student teachers on campus each have different reasons for pursuing their careers and come from a broad range of backgrounds, shaping how they teach.
“I excelled in high school because I had a strong work ethic and also because of my privilege and the many academic opportunities I was presented with,” student teacher Selin Dogan said. “I want to create a curriculum and lessons that are increasingly accessible so that all students have the opportunity to love history as I did.”
Often, a teacher’s teaching strategies can impact a student’s feelings about a class, and so, in addition to the opportunity to increase accessibility, teaching also gives student teachers the opportunity to increase interest in a subject.
“Growing up, I often felt disconnected from my English classes, so I try to focus on providing students opportunities to connect to the text in ways that are important to their own lives,” student teacher Madison Gonzalez said. “I also want to provide opportunities to develop their communication skills, because a lot of times English classes are more focused on writing.”
When starting out at UHS, the student teachers had very little experience with teaching in a classroom; because of this, oftentimes they had to adapt their teaching strategies in order to effectively teach content
“When I first started here, I came to the realization that lessons that may be perfectly planned in your head do not always work out the way you had intended in the classroom,” Dogan said.
Adapting lessons quickly to fit constraints is an important skill to develop in the classroom. Additionally, planning lessons around the students in class is important for efficient teaching.
“Within the classroom, there are a lot of different needs for different students,” Gonzalez said. “[It was difficult] just making sure that my lesson plans properly supported the needs of all my students in a way that provided all of the necessary material and rigor that’s important for students’ success and growth.”
However, as the school year has progressed, the student teachers at UHS have grown their skills by observing and interacting with the staff, especially the mentor teachers whose classes they teach.
“All the staff I have met have all been extremely helpful and friendly,” student teacher Alex McDonald said. “My mentor teachers, Mrs. Jo and Ms. Jacobsen, have been incredibly supportive and their guidance throughout this semester has been invaluable to my growth as a teacher.”
In addition to McDonald, Gonzalez and Dogan both expressed their appreciation for their mentor teachers, as they have supported the student teachers throughout their journey here.
“It’s been really awesome to work with Mr. Alix because he’s been really supportive and brings a lot of excitement into the classroom,” Gonzalez said.
Another reason for the student teachers’ growth is the ability to get experience teaching students in the classroom. In addition to allowing for growth, Gonzalez and McDonald have had the ability to make connections with students, adding to the general positive experience expressed.
“I really like working with freshmen because they have a lot of excitement and energy,” Gonzalez said, “So far in the semester that I’ve taken over, I’ve taught poetry, which is one of my favorite parts of English, so it’s been really exciting to have the opportunity to teach that.”
Through increasing experience, the student teachers have slowly improved at aspects of teaching that they may have lacked in before.
“Although there are times when I underestimate or overestimate how long certain activities will take, I do think I have become better at predicting lesson timing for my classes,” Dogan said.
Similarly, Gonzalez believes that she was able to become more time-efficient when teaching when transitioning from activity to activity. McDonald also believes that he was able to grow in terms of timing; however, he believes that more of his growth is outside of teaching, instead having to do with planning.
“In the beginning of the year I definitely struggled with creating lesson plans and grading assignments in a timely manner,” McDonald said. “Thankfully at this point I have become much more efficient in utilizing time inside and outside of school.”
Looking forward to the future, the student teachers expressed their desire to keep learning and growing as educators through the last weeks of the school year. They are also committed to treasuring the rest of their time with their students this academic year.
“It’s been really rewarding and I’ll miss all my students after the year ends,” Gonzalez said. “I want to enjoy the time I still have in the classroom with this particular set of students, especially since they’re my first group of students ever. It’s a really special experience to have that.”
