Teaching at Worcester Tech
Figure 1- Maslow's Hierarchy of needs
Introduction
My name is Benjamin Petkie and I completed my 15 weeks of student teaching in May 2021. I had the pleasure of working at Worcester Technical High School, a public technical/trade school in Worcester, MA. Due to COVID, my teaching began completely remotely, but in April, we switched to a hybrid style with students both in the classroom and virtually simultaneously. I hope to share what effect this had on my student teaching experience and how I feel like I learned so much more due to these hurdles.
Through my time at Worcester Tech, I went through a tremendous amount of personal and professional growth. Learning two teaching styles (virtual and hybrid) in fifteen weeks was difficult work, but I feel this has increased my adaptability as a teacher. Technology isn’t perfect and there would often be times in the classroom where WiFi was down, the webcam wasn’t working, or the projector image was hard to see for students in the back. Reacting to these things on the fly can be stressful, but I see them as exciting moments to learn something new about how to adapt to certain situations. I’m certain this will carry over to in person classroom management and meeting diverse needs of students.
My mentor teacher was great at offering suggestions to these new situations neither she or I had encountered before. I learned even more about the importance of teamwork and bouncing ideas off of one another to come to a conclusion both parties are satisfied with. Developing this professional yet personal bond gave me insight to what it will be like to work in the great world of teaching and some of the great people involved in it. This teamwork also resonated through the entire science department, monthly meetings would have us check in with other teachers and exchange ideas for teaching strategies. These interactions gave me hope for the world of teaching I will be stepping into, one in which teamwork is utilized and seen as an important asset for everyone.
The biggest way teachers can make an impact on their students is creating a safe learning environment for all. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs states that we build off a foundation of Physiological nourishment (food, health, temperature, lighting and other basic human needs) and Safety (feeling secure in your environment) to reach the higher order goal of Self Actualization. Self Actualization is when a student can focus their energy on learning on learning and finding higher purpose with their life. Erin Werra’s article (located in references) on Maslow and the Modern Learning Environment goes into great detail on how a student can reach the beginnings of this self actualization stage through teacher intervention.