The Obstacles and Steps in Becoming A Teacher

The person I chose to interview and write about for this week was someone who has became a high school teacher recently and not that far along in age from myself. I chose this person because she too aspire to be a professor, but wanted to start at the high school. I felt that interviewing this person I would get a better feel of what to expect when becoming a high school teacher because she too is young and is consider fresh in the teaching world.

The interview started with me asking her what was the hardest thing she had to do in college before attaining her degree. She replied by saying actually becoming a certified teacher, and she stated that some people may have a degree and are teaching but there were tests she had to take in order to be considered a certified teacher. She stated that there were tests she took and that the content area test was the most difficult. She stated that she took alot of classes dealing with history (which was her major) but she also stated that the hardest part was keeping a 3.0 in her major classes. She also spoked about when she student teached, how it was beneficial because she felt that she would always have a connection with students being that she too was young, but she stated that things didn't turn out that way. She spoke about she had students who tried to run over her and didn't want to listen because they felt that because she looked so young she was one of them. When I heard that I became a little worried because I too feel that I would always be able to grasp a student attention and keep it because I feel like I was one of them not too long ago and I know what I expected and wanted in a teacher, I also explained to her that I too felt that way. She replied by saying, "You have to be tough and not tolerate nonsense." She stated that once you make that clear, the students will respect you and she stated that after that you will probably come across one or two students who try to step to you in a disrespectful way, but I have to keep in mind that they are still children and not adults.

I started a different conversation with her by asking how is it being a little younger than most staff and working in the school system. She replied by saying, you must always come in strong and to the best of your ability, because you would come across some who questions your ability to teach and expecting you to fail. You stated that I even may come across some teachers who tries to question your education and want to know where you graduated from,etc. She stated that being a little younger than most staff caused alot of students to talk to her more and respect her because she is able to understand why they behave the way they do. She stated that providing a great education to a student will be an essential key to your career, but sometimes you may have to play the counsel role because each student is different and behave in different ways and they may want to open up to you about that. The interview ended short, but I was reassured that I will be just fine and that she is always there for support and help.

My Planning Wall (weekly calendar at bottom, float chart in middle, 6 month goal calendar at top) along with those who inspire me as well as those who I feel are my imaginary family. (was not sure if we was suppose to include the imaginary family, but I saw Dr. Roc do it, so I felt I should do as well. :-))

I committed to completing one first step. I received a passed on the Basic Skills Test which is a first accomplishment in my road in becoming a teacher. You must pass the Basic Skills Test, in order to take the content area test as well as apply for candidacy. I also committed to meeting with the secondary education advisor Kimberly Clark in which I did. She explained everything I needed to do and take in order to graduate on time. She explained that now that I have a pass on Basic Skills Test I need to go to the education department so that they can approve me for the required courses I need to take in the spring semester (so, I decided to make that my next step for this upcoming week along with others)

STUDENT NOW, TEACHER LATER

I INTERVIEWED 2 MORE OF MY ROLE MODELS. ONE WHO IS A HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER IN THE PROCESS OF TEACHING ON THE COLLEGE LEVEL AND THE OTHER WHO TEACHES ON THE COLLEGE LEVEL AT A PRIVATE COLLEGE IN WISCONSIN. I CHOSE THE FIRST PERSON BECAUSE I FELT THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO GIVE ME A LOOK AT WHAT TO EXPECT AS FAR AS WORK IN BECOMING A PROFESSOR. I CHOSE TO INTERVIEW THE SECOND PERSON BECAUSE SHE IS IN ANOTHER STATE AND I FELT IT WOULD BE NICE TO INTERVIEW SOMEONE WHO TEACHES AT A PRIVATE COLLEGE RATHER THAN A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY TO SEE IF THERE IS A DIFFERENCE.





THE FIRST PERSON I INTERVIEWED WHO TEACHES HIGH SCHOOL, YET WORKING TO TEACH ON THE COLLEGE LEVEL SPOKE TO ME ABOUT ALL THE WORK THAT I SHOULD EXPECT POST-UNDERGRAD. I ASKED HER WHAT TO EXPECT AS FAR AS THE WORK AND CLASSES, AND SHE RESPONDED BY SAYING THEIR WOULD BE ALOT OF READING AND PAPERS, SOME OF WHICH MAY INCLUDE GROUP PROJECTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR OR EVEN A PORTFOLIO OF 75 PAGES OR MORE. I ASKED HER IF SHE IS OFTEN TESTED ON WHAT SHE IS STUDYING AND SHE RESPONDED SAYING THAT THERE ISN'T MUCH TEST-TAKING JUST ALOT OF READING AND WRITING. I ASKED HER HOW WAS IT TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL AND GOING TO SCHOOL AT THE SAME TIME, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I PLANNED ON DOING WHILE TEACHING HIGH SCHOOL AS WELL, SHE STATED THAT IT CAN GET A LITTLE STRESSFUL BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO HAVE LESSON PLANS READY FOR EACH DAY AND ON SOME DAYS YOU MAY HAVE TO JUGGLE YOUR LESSON PLANS AND HOMEWORK AT THE SAME TIME. SHE SUGGESTED THAT IN HIGH SCHOOL NOT ALOT OF TEACHERS USE SYLLABUS BUT SHE FELT THAT HANDING OUT A SYLLABUS TO HER STUDENTS MADE IT EASIER FOR HER AND ALSO GIVES THE STUDENTS A TASTE OF WHAT TO EXPECT IN COLLEGE. THE INTERVIEW ENDED WITH HER STATING THAT IF YOU HAVE MADE UP IN YOUR MIND THAT TEACHING ON THE COLLEGE LEVEL IS WHAT I WANT TO DO THEN NOTHING WHETHER ITS STRESSFUL OR HARD WILL STOP ME.





THE SECOND PERSON I INTERVIEWED TEACHES AT A PRIVATE COLLEGE IN WISCONSIN. I CHOSE TO INTERVIEW HER BECAUSE SHE HAS A PHD AND IS AN ACTUAL PROFESSOR INSTEAD OF AN INSTRUCTOR. I FELT THAT SHE COULD GIVE ME A SENSE OF HOW IT WAS THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE PROCESS OF BECOMING A PROFESSOR AS WELL AS HOW IT IS ONCE SHE FINALLY MADE IT AS AN ACTUAL PROFESSOR. SHE FIRST STARTED BY SAYING THAT IT WAS A LONG TOUGH ROAD FULL OF WORK. SHE TALKED ABOUT HOW GETTING ANYTHING LESS THAN THE LETTER GRADE B IN A CLASS IS UNACCEPTABLE. I ASKED HER WHAT WERE SOME OF THE DOWN TIMES SHE HAD WHILE IN SCHOOL AND SHE RESPONDED SAYING THAT USUALLY TOWARDS THE END OF HER CLASSES IS WHEN SHE BECAME STRESSED THE MOST. SHE TOO STATED THAT I HAVE TO HAVE A DETERMINE MIND WHILE IN SCHOOL BECAUSE THERE ARE TIMES WHERE YOU MAY HAVE A OVERLOAD OF WORK AND IF YOU AREN'T DETERMINE THEN YOUR DREAM IN BECOMING A PROFESSOR CAN GET DETERRED BECAUSE IT WILL TAKE MORE THAN 2 YEARS TO BECOME THAT PROFESSOR AND THAT I WILL BE IN SCHOOL FOR QUITE SOME TIME UNTIL I GET MY TITLE AS A PROFESSOR INSTEAD OF INSTRUCTOR. I ASKED HER HOW WAS IT TEACHING AT A PRIVATE COLLEGE AND SHE RESPONDED BY SAYING THAT THE CURRICULUM IS MUCH INTENSE AND A GREAT EDUCATION IS EXPECTED ALL THE TIME. SHE STATED THAT DEPENDING ON WHAT TYPE OF PRIVATE COLLEGE YOU WORK AT CERTAIN THINGS ARE EXPECTED ON THE SIDE OF THAT GREAT EDUCATION. THE INTERVIEW ENDED WITH HER SAYING THAT HARD WORK PAYS OFF IN THE END, AND NOT TO PAY TOO MUCH ATTENTION TO HOW LONG I HAVE TO GO AND JUST TAKE EACH DAY AT A TIME.

I WAS VERY PLEASED WITH THE INFORMATION THAT WAS PROVIDED. I RECEIVED GOOD AND BAD, ALL OF WHICH MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR A BLOG, BUT I FEEL THAT I HAVE A SENSE OF WHAT IM GETTING MYSELF INTO. INTERVIEWING THE PROFESSOR FROM WISCONSIN GAVE ME MORE MOTIVATION IN BECOMING THAT PROFESSOR.

"The Future I Work Hard For"

I am currently majoring in English for Secondary Education. Although I want to eventually become a honorary professor, I've always wanted to teach high school and coach on the high school level. I plan to start off teaching on the high school level once I finish undergrad. Because I want to start at the high school level I figured I start with my role models who are teaching at the high school level instead of the ones on the professor level. The two people I chose to interview was Charles Cole and Gloria Winfield. Both of which who are/was high school teachers in the Chicago Public system.

I interviewed Charles Cole and asked about the rode he took and went through to make it to his teaching career. He stated that, "Once you make up in your mind what you genuinely want to do, you MUST remain FOCUS and let nothing deter it." He talked about how he started and finished at Chicago Teachers College which is now called Chicago State University. The only struggles he faced was the general classes that he had to take and that he major classes were the easiest. He stated that instead of doing a lot of socializing he studied. He formed study groups with others in the class and made sure that he knew the material, being that he studied History for Secondary Education which required memorizing lots of dates. Once he graduated from Chicago Teacher College, he stated that he work in the Chicago Public system for over 30 in many Chicago Public High Schools on the north, west and south side. Once he started his career he stated that the only thing that he had to face that wasn't much of a good experience was misbehaved students, flirtacious young female students and at one point a uneasy principal. He stated that these are some of the thing I may face as a young teacher but all he did to overcome it was set some rules/regulations and remain stearn. The students knew what rules they had to follow and what would occur if they didn't. He stated by him being stearn and being a tough teacher he was able to get the students respect. As for his principal, he stated that as long as you do what is expected than there shouldn't be any bad feedback from your boss. He stated that because he had a love for his students and his job he didn't have many bad experiences.

The second person I interviewed was a counselor who use to be a high school teacher. I chose to interview her because I always imagined myself as a high school teacher who had students that came to her for advice and with her being my ex-counselor and teacher I figured I should interview her. I first started by asking her what made her go from being a teacher to being a counselor. She stated that she loved teaching but she loved helping her students and seeing them succeed by her advice which made her want to change from being a high school teacher to a high school counselor. She was an English teacher which is actually the subject I am majoring in now. She told me to be looking forward to a lot of reading and writing. She talked about how all of her college years consisted of reading a lot of materials she liked and hated as well as a lot of papers that consisted of many pages. She stated, "as long as you read and get an understanding, everything else should come easy." Upon becoming a teacher, she stated she too faced a lot of misbehaved young students, she talked about how I would always face misbehaved students who may or may not want to learn. She spoke about how she made her material more interesting according to the things she that she saw her students has an interest in which made them want to learn more. She too said that I must be have a love for my career in order to enjoy it fully.

Now that I interviewed both high school teachers, I am well aware that I may face a lot of misbehaved students and students who may not want to learn, but they reassured me that if I have a love for my career and students I would be fine. I always had a love for helping and giving advice to younger children. I never imagined the rode to becoming a high school teacher easy but I hope it turns out to be everything I imagined.