Being a student teacher is a demanding job when it is one of your first times around the teaching part of the students. Through all the teachers they had to student teach at some point to become a teacher and some even multiple times!
The moon area high school has many student teachers each year while some come in the beginning and some come later in the year. We have two student teachers in the highs school that were able to give interviews for the newspaper. The first interview was with Mr. Connelly in the history department with Mr. O’Toole! The second interview was with Mr. Westover in the English department with Mr. Burgess!
Mr. Connelly’s first question was: Why did you choose to want to be a teacher?
He stated that he has “always enjoyed teaching people” as he was in a tutoring program to help others with their schooling. He also stated that he “just likes helping people.”
What is your favorite subject and least favorite subject (why)?
His favorite subject is history, which is why he had gone to student teach with Mr. O’Toole. He thinks that math is his least favorite subject. He “isn’t an algebra person.”
What are you most looking forward to in your student teaching?
He is most excited for the solo teaching aspect of the student teaching because right now he just gets to observe. He is going to “switch to doing his old work” meaning he is going to get some of Mr. O’Toole’s lesson plans and teach them. What Mr. Connelly is most excited about is making his own lesson plans and teaching them to the class.
Are there specific things that teachers did or didn’t do when you were in school that you would use to teach your students?
He wants “any big assignment to be as creative as you want it to be.” In school he had some teachers that had to do the work on just power point and what he wanted to do is keep it more hands on and free.
His last question is: What is Your favorite Era in History?
Mr. Connelly’s favorite era in history as he says is, “modern and the revolutionary war.” In the classes he has taken almost nine out of the ten classes, which were US history courses. He enjoys US history the most. He is also in a US history course with Mr. O’Toole.
Mr. Westover’ first question is: Why did you choose to want to be a teacher?
He had stated that in his senior year of high school he took an AP language course and the teacher taught nonfiction. He was “entering my senior year and she taught me to see things with a lot of nuance.” That helped him deconstruct the nonfiction sources and,” really figure out why people say the things that they say.” That jumpstarted his interest in writing and wanting to be a teacher. “It was her classroom that gave me the space to share my opinions.” The AP language teacher also, “created a space to talk and give the best advice!” He said that she was a lot like Mr. Burgess.
Is high school the main age you would like to teach?
Mr. Westover would continue to stay in the high school grade level because he “likes to dive deeper into text and novels.” High school is the age where they get to do that and middle kind of stays surface level with novels. He will have a certification that teaches seventh grade up to twelfth grade, so he would consider teaching the older middle schoolers.
His last question is: Are there specific things that teachers did or didn’t do when you were in school that you would use to teach your students?
He thinks that when he was in high school the schools were teacher centered, meaning the teacher was at the front flipping through a power point and the students take notes. He wants to make it more student base because some high schools are already losing engagement. “We need to tailor our courses and material to hit their interests.”
Each student teacher is in a different learning department with history and English, but that doesn’t change the fact that they want to create a creative learning space for their student now and later down the road!
