It is 6:30 AM, and the sun has barely reached its destined place in the sky. However, for Katherine Miller, a senior in math education, who has been up for more than an hour already, the day is already in full swing. In approximately forty-five minutes, she will assume her position in the front of a classroom filled with adolescents at Garner High School.
Miller is one of approximately 250 students at N.C. State who are participating in student teaching this semester.
As a part of the degree and licensure requirements for students pursuing careers in education, a professional semester is required to prepare them for the transition from student to teacher.
However, despite what many people may think, the job is not as easy as it seems. One thing that keeps Miller going, however, is the same thing she attempts to instill in her students, each day: the power of learning.
“You learn things everyday that you didn’t expect to learn,” Miller said. “You learn how to think on your feet. You learn through actually doing stuff.”
Prior to actually getting the chance to complete a semester of student teaching, however, Miller, like others in her degree program, took numerous courses focusing in on education practices.
However, according to Miller, nothing has prepared her nearly as well as the past few weeks have.
“Classroom experiences for me, mainly, for the better part of the past three and a half years has consisted of sitting in a classroom and listening to lectures,” Miller said. “Now I’m actually learning through actually doing stuff.”
Part of this learning process began in a curriculum and methods course Miller took.
“I loved my methods courses,” Miller said. “They prepared me book-wise, and they did make me think about how I would manage my classroom, what kinds of rules I would have and what kind of teacher would be.”
However, the course was not able to fully teach Miller how to get along in the daily life of a high school teacher.
According to Michael Maher, director of professional education with the College of Education, these aspects of student teaching often prove to be the hardest to get across to students.
“It’s hard to prepare people for that first time when you get out there in the school and you take over and you become the teacher,” Maher said. “Most students have never worked a full time job in the way that they are going to be expected when they become a student teacher.”
One aspect that comes along with the responsibilities and duties of being a student teacher is waking earlier than many college students.
“I usually get up at about 5:15 every morning,” Miller said. “I leave my house between 6:30 and 6:40, and I get to Garner at about 6:50.”
From that point until three o’clock in the afternoon — minus one planning period and a lunch break — Miller is busy teaching lessons, grading papers, planning future lessons or maybe even on lunch duty.
Relating with kids, dealing with situations, dealing with other teachers and having lunch duty are things that no one can really teach — it’s the experience that counts.
Fortunately, Miller’s day ends at three. Right?
Wrong.
Despite what many may believe, a teacher’s day does not simply end at the end of the instructional day. In fact, it extends into much of the night. According to Miller, this is a lesson that many student teachers learn within their first couple of days on the job.
Although Miller generally reserves her nights for simply preparing herself for the next day of teaching by doing things such as creating guided notes for herself or thinking of questions to ask, this idle time — if that is what people call it — does not come without a cost.
Miller acknowledges that some of her weekends are spent completing work.
“I actually do all my lesson plans in a row,” said Miller. “I worked constantly, all day and night this weekend, and I finished an entire unit. So now, when I’m teaching, I can kind of relax.”
Laura Pierrie, a sophomore in science education, will soon be doing the exact same things as Miller.
“I do not really have any specific expectations of student teaching,” said Pierrie. “In high school, I had some experiences with student teachers in some of my classes, and I saw how well the teacher worked with the students to help them through the process.”
Pierrie will not only have a cooperating teacher to help her in this transition. She’ll have more — an entire family of teachers.
Both of Pierrie’s parents were teachers, and her mom is now a principal in Wake County. Her uncle is also a special education teacher in Wake County.
“I talk to them a lot about any questions that I have about classroom issues,” Pierrie said. “I have learned so much from them.”
In the end, however, it all boils down to the belief that is shared by both Maher and Miller. This is the notion that whatever you put into something is what you will get out of it — student teaching is no exception.
