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02/22/2024
By: Ella Johnson and Ona Terrell
Some of you may have Mr. Evans for 8th grade Social Studies or PCC and if you do, then you’ll know that there’s a new student teacher, Ms. Johnson! She started college in 2018 and is completing her student teaching to be able to graduate this May. “So my degree is specifically a Bachelor of Science in secondary education with a focus on Social Studies. So basically that just means I am going to be a social studies teacher for middle school and high school students,” says Ms.Johnson.
Throughout her life, Ms. Johnson has always loved to talk, always taken the lead in projects, and done her best to explain questions others had. Talking about becoming a teacher, Ms. Johnson says, “It just kind of felt like a very natural progression of life to me.” There are many different things you can go into teaching for and Ms.Johnson chose Social Studies because it is like telling stories, “When you study Social Studies or you study History, you’re just learning about people and you’re learning about their stories, and to me that’s just a really beautiful, awesome thing to study because who doesn’t want to learn more about their fellow human?” Says Ms. Johnson.
This is a picture of Ms. Johnson's cat.
Getting a teaching degree can be complicated and for you to get a degree you must go through courses, pass exams, student teaching, and more. For IU, the last piece of getting your teaching degree is completing an assignment called an EdTPA, “It is basically just an 80-page paper where I write lesson plans for you guys, I write down what I’m planning to do for the day in Social Studies, I write down every single thing, I write down the assignments I have for you guys, I write down why I’m assigning them,” says Ms. Johnson. “I write down state standards that I’m using and then I explain why I made those choices in the lesson and I have to record myself teaching. I then have to say 'Okay here's a mistake I made in the lesson’ or ‘Here’s what I would do differently’ or ‘Here’s what I liked in the lesson’. Then I have to back it up with research and theory saying I did these things for a reason.”
There are many fun parts that come along with teaching, like being able to socialize with the students, “ I love interacting with you guys it is so much fun. You guys are just so silly and so unique and sometimes you just say things that I’m like ‘I never would have thought that’ or ‘That is insane’ so it's just fun to hang out with you guys.” Says Ms. Johnson. Along with the fun parts, there are also some not-so-fun parts, “The most difficult part is waking up at 6 in the morning, I’m not even lying, if school could just start 2 hours later there would be no issues. But waking up at 6 in the morning when it’s still dark out and it’s cold, that’s tough, it’s real tough.
This is a photo of Auckland, New Zealand. This is where Ms.Johnson will be student teaching after her 10 weeks here.
Ms. Johnson has to complete 10 weeks of student teaching here at Edgewood and once that is complete she will go to New Zealand to complete another 10 weeks of student teaching. In May, she will graduate, get her bachelor's degree, and officially be able to teach at schools for Social Studies.
Contributor bios:
Ella Johnson: Ella is a 13-year-old 8th grader who likes to be with her friends, read, swim, sing, and play Volleyball. She loves her tiny dogs, Chloe and Gracie!
Ona Terrell: Ona is a 14-year-old 8th grader who likes to spend time with her friends and family. She enjoys reading, journaling, Robotics, and dance.
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