Student Teacher Scaries: We Haven’t Even Started Yet!

Patrick Boyle
Aug 22, 2017 · 4 min read

Welcome to the Student Teacher Scaries! A place where you can read all about the student teaching experience from a living, breathing human being. This will be my first foray into writing in about a year or so, and the real reason I wanted to start this is because after searching through podcasts, blogs, YouTube videos, and other forms of media, I just could not find any real accounts of student teaching experiences that resonated with me. Maybe people are too afraid to document their experiences. I get that. I’m a little afraid too.

However, what is stronger than that fear is a belief that in order to successfully combat the looming teacher shortage, future teachers need to be able to look online and see someone who went through it. Students in teacher preparation programs need a place to go and read about authentic (buzzword alert) student teaching experiences. I’m hoping this will be that place! At least for the year while I’m doing my field work and student teaching.

Some background on me: I am not your traditional educator. I grew up in a family of teachers and professors, and although I’ve had several nudges to go into the profession over the years, teaching was never something I felt called to do. My original academic background is in business and economics, and I spent a couple years in sales and marketing before I made a decision to start substitute teaching in my local city school district, a district in which I proudly graduated from. At first, I subbed for the money, I’ll be totally honest about that. The money was a hell of a lot better than my 30-hour-a-week-and-shrinking marketing job, and your boy had bills to pay. Student loans aren’t cheap! And so I made the jump into subbing.

By day 3 substitute teaching no longer became about the money, it became about the kids. I loved every second of it and I started working towards becoming a full time teacher. After a year of taking history classes, I enrolled in a 15-month teacher prep program designed for people whose background is not in teaching. My cohort includes a wide range of historians, biologists, genetic researchers, and so many more.

A few disclaimers before I start this thing:

1. Yes, my real name is on this. Yes, I want it there. No, I’m not going to reveal any more than that on Medium.

I believe having my name on this makes it more real. Will it make me more vulnerable? Sure. But I know in my mind I won’t say anything to truly jeopardize information such as student, administrator, school, professor, or colleague names, exact grading information, my own teacher prep program, etc. I want to be bold, not stupid.

2. This isn’t a place to gloat, nor is it a place to just complain.

I want this little series of mine to be snippets of my experience, positive and negative. This will NOT be a place for superior-bashing or shaming or any other negative connotation this may have. I simply want to provide a real representation of what I’m doing and therefore I will do my best to not get carried away with either. Celebrate the successes, reflect and learn from the mistakes, and there will be no blaming of anyone other than myself here. My goal is just to provide a true experience of what it’s like out there.

3. If you think you can help, by all means share it!

That wasn’t meant to be a cry for assistance already, but most educators know that teaching is collaborative (ugh, buzzwords). It seems to me that now more than ever, teachers need to work together on all fronts. I am just starting my teaching career, so I know I have a lot to learn. Because of that, here is an open invitation to anyone reading this: I am open to your feedback, tips, hints, strategies, etc. Send them my way! I’m always looking to spread my knowledge and gain new insight, especially in this field. Even if you’re not a teacher, if you remember something from your learning experience that you think more teachers should be using, I’d love to hear it!


Okay, now that we have that out of the way, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this (and in advance for reading more in the future!). My goal is to have something published at least once a week. I’ve been playing with format, but I think a mix of short- and long-form writing will be the best way to approach this. My schedule, like like most teacher prep students, is packed to the brim and the school year hasn’t even started!

So again, welcome to Student Teacher Scaries! Enjoy the ride, I know I will!

)

Syracuse, NY | Coffee Addict | Brunch Enthusiast | Future History Teacher | @pjboyle33 on Twitter and Instagram

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