This fall semester has been my start at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education in the Secondary English Education major. I have known that I wanted to be a teacher since high school and two years of general education classes flew by before applying to the five-year integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s Program. As this was my first time teaching in the classroom, I felt a lot of highs and lows that I would continue to learn from throughout my work in schools. For anyone interested in our program or wanting to be a teacher, I want to share some initial takeaways and learning curves that I have been navigating!
(Probably) Not Like Your Hometown
I grew up in Farmington, Connecticut, which is a very upper-middle class, majority-white suburban district. My high school had very high engagement, expectations, and a good reputation. My placement school was Manchester High School, where issues with motivation, as well as attendance, are prominent. Beyond the makeup of the students in regards to being more racially diverse, the logistics of the school and classes function a lot differently. My cooperating teacher only taught one class on her own, while the rest were co-taught alongside a teacher of a different subject area. I found myself in a unique position among my seminar peers seeing this variety of classes that others had not experienced. One of the best parts I noticed about Manchester High School was the treatment of students with disabilities, where my teacher co-taught with a special education teacher for her sophomore English class. In my hometown, those students were in a resource room setting, called the FRIENDS room, for the majority of their school day. It was refreshing to experience identity more embraced and seen, where students with disabilities were integrated into the general classroom learning at a slower pace with multiple people in the room that can accommodate diverse needs.Â
Cell Phones
At Manchester High, I was shocked to hear just how impactful cell phones were for impeding student learning in these districts. In schools all around the country, it seems as though phones are becoming a greater issue, perhaps a result of the pandemic in students who have been chronically online since 2020. The school administration adopted a strict policy that phones must be powered off and placed in bags. A phone seen by a teacher is reported in a student’s file, and a security guard comes and keeps it for the rest of the day. Multiple offenses lead to turning in phones at the start of every day with students unable to get them back until the end of the day. To help with implementation, each student was provided a special pouch with a lock on it to put their phone into to resist temptation. Â
Teach for Humans
Still, in 2024, there is a lack of social-emotional learning education along with multicultural education. Thankfully, my experiences in Manchester High School highlighted a lot of students’ choices of independent reading novels as well as what they wanted to write about. The major assessment that I sat in on throughout the semester was a rant assignment where students choose a topic that really matters to them. Students moved their projects towards social action, advocating for a variety of flaws they saw in society today, ranging from politics to pop culture.
We have to adapt our teaching of history and English classes in similar ways along with reflecting all cultures and identities to resonate with students, rather than emphasizing the memorization of events that have no impact on their lives. Anxiety is also an epidemic among school-age students, yet we do not talk about it or even think about teaching skills of time management and self-regulation or coping mechanisms. Students will also learn best through choice, seeing themselves in the curriculum, and applying what they are learning to their real lives. This is how all of our lessons should be adapted so that our students walk away at graduation capable of entering the postsecondary world.
Be Confident and Advocate for Yourself
I will not lie when I say that I have not been as involved in the classroom as I would like to be. It is extremely difficult, and it varies based on the day-to-day lessons that happen. Some days, I observe lectures, especially in the co-taught, double-subject classrooms. After all, I do not have the knowledge of the content area to help support history or psychology. On other days, I am really involved in student workshops on essays as well as group work. At times, I have even been afraid to be more involved. Talking across grade levels in my seminar class, elementary student teachers are much more involved in the teaching of simple lessons as well as the daily interactions with children. While I have come to accept this and have become slowly more comfortable and involved, I will be in a different district in the spring.Â
Overall Reflections
I have enjoyed my time in student teaching through the past semester and my experiences prior to being in the School of Education. However, I think that now I am actually in my program, I have found myself more nervous as I transition to an actual teaching role. I wish I put more effort into getting to know the students earlier on, walking around more and talking to them rather than being the college student in the back of the room. When you put yourself out there by walking around and asking your teacher to teach a lesson, the students actually really want to know you and are excited to have you help them.  My goal next semester will be to not hold back in being afraid of the students, even in settings where it is harder to be involved. You got this!