Initial Thoughts on Being a Teacher Cadet
Exciting! I so enjoy working with those who aspire to be teachers. This, I have been privileged to do for several years now, first, working with students through Lyon College in the Secondary English Methods class and now through our high school and local community college UACCB via the Teacher Cadet/Introduction to Teaching Class. This initial group includes seven very inspiring young prospects with whom I look forward to leading, guiding and learning.
Why I Want to Teach
Not until my second semester of senior year did I ever presume to be a teacher, hoping to one day be one of those ladies that sit in the windows at banks and receipt money. Then, about spring in 1985, the idea was planted, cultivated, and came to harvest with my receiving the first of three degrees in education. That fall, I began what has now become a 26 year career in education, having now taught English, journalism, debate, drama, and now this Teacher Cadet class to what must be nearly 3000 students. Very awesome. Very blessed to have been able to accomplish what I was born to be.
I teach to better prepare a person for life after me, whether that be high school, college, or on the job, as I also teach teachers in professional development classes. I teach to inspire all of them to be more than what they were before they entered my class. I teach to ensure success in their literary endeavors and with working with students using accomplished and mastered methods. I teach to encourage all to be better writers and more avid readers than they once were.
Please go here to read more about those who inspired me to be.
Initial Thoughts on Education
Trends come. Trends go. In my previous eleven years here, I have witnessed at least a half a dozen shifts in curriculum. Thus, one must be willing to change. To give up. To expect less. To never give up. To expect more.
Oxymorons.
Yes. Such contradictions.
All realities.
Here's what I know: Education should be a blend. When one goes too far to one side or the other, yes, the other side gets left out. I firmly believe that no one method will ever solve any problem or concern.
Here's what I know: No one teacher style is ever the right one. I do firmly believe that a teacher should always be striving to learn what his/her style is and then always, always, always work to better that method to ever become who he/she was born to be.
I am living what I was born to be. I am beyond blessed.
