Center for Catholic Education at UD

By Joe Twiner

Student Teaching can be an incredibly overwhelming experience, which is, of course, expected and not to say that it is not also exciting and fulfilling! However, it is truly a time of firsts for me and for many of my peers who are also student teaching. For example, it is the first time that I have spent all day in a high school classroom since I left high school. It is the first time that I have been completely responsible for lesson planning for a whole day of classes and students. It is the first time I have had to detail my plans to meet the needs of my different classes. It is also the first time that I spent most of each day with people significantly younger than myself.

Working with students is by far my favorite part of my teaching experience. However, being strongly introverted means that by the time I come home I am thoroughly exhausted. I crave spending time with people my own age, and with people who understand my busy and joyfully hectic life, which is why I am blessed by having a community of student teachers to fall back upon.

In a striking God moment, three student teachers, including myself, were placed at the same high school. Partially in order to save on gas, we decided to set up a carpool. What started out as a practical way to get to and from school shifted into a community of teachers sharing successes and failures from the day’s lessons. Having a community of teachers to rely upon allows us to share our best practices for instruction and for classroom management. We are able to bond over our shared learning experiences. It allows the work that we do to be more meaningful because we know that we are not alone in striving to teach and help our students.

This is often the case with community in general as well. In the Marianist tradition, community is designed to be a cycle: coming in and going out. Coming in and sharing experience, life, and often faith. Going out and sharing what is learned and grown in community. A sign of healthy community is being able to both be community for the sake of being and growing together, while also being able to take that growth and put it into practice in our daily lives. The opportunity to grow in my role as an educator comes especially to me through community.

Edited by Lindsey Bronder and Emma Grace Geckle