Future teaching careers unite UNI transfer students
Future teaching careers unite UNI transfer students
Many UNI students dream of the days they will be writing lesson plans for their classrooms as teachers. This is a dream students Kendra Morris and Ella Jensen talk about often in their apartment in Panther Village on UNI campus. Although Morris is studying early childhood education and Jensen is studying elementary education, they find many similarities in their programs and are able to discuss challenges and exchange ideas.
“I feel like we can fall back on each other with those similar classes that we do have,” said Jensen. “We were in a math class together. We can help each other. We have the same science class at different times. So we can still talk to each other about it and then in the future, we already know that we might take some of the classes.”
Morris and Jensen are transfer students from Iowa Central Community College where they met in marching band. Morris is a Cedar Rapids native, and Jensen calls Eagle Grove home. They bonded over a love of music, a desire to teach and their shared plans to attend the University of Northern Iowa. They quickly jumped at the chance to live together.
“I think it just all fell into place,” said Morris. “We were starting to become close friends, both happened to plan on going to UNI, and it was one of those connections where we thought, ‘Hey we know each other, and we're going to the same school. Let's do this thing!’ It only got better as we became best friends and learned so much about each other, and so far, it's been amazing having that person to fall back on right at home.”
Both students have prior experience working in a daycare setting, which highlighted their love of working with children. For Morris, the realization that she wanted to be a teacher came in high school. She loved seeing kids get their “aha” moments as they learned new things.
Meanwhile, Jensen grew up always knowing she wanted to be a teacher. Playing teacher was a regular pastime as a child. In high school, she babysat and worked in a daycare, so a career that put her around kids made the most sense.
“Everyone was like, ‘Oh, you'd be a great teacher,’” said Jensen. “And I was like, ‘Oh, I do enjoy that. You're right.’ Then I just started taking steps to make that happen.”
After settling on a career path, the choice to come to UNI — which, according to Morris has “the best teacher education program in the world" — became obvious. Jensen’s older sister graduated from UNI, so she had heard a firsthand account of someone who enjoyed their college experience.
At Iowa Central, Jensen and Morris both completed their Level 1 field experiences. Jensen completed her Level 2s this semester through UNI, and Morris will have this experience next semester. “I really enjoyed them,” Jensen said of her Level 2s. “I enjoyed my mentor teacher. I think it was a really good experience. I really enjoy that they make you do two lesson plans in your Level 2s, because in your Level 1, you're basically observing. It helps get ready in your Level 2s. I was kind of in the mindset of, ‘Okay, I'm a teacher. I'm doing this.’”
Even though she has not had a field experience at UNI yet, Morris is still gleaning plenty of information from her classes she believes will help her succeed as a teacher.
“My best class to help in the future has a really long name, but I call it my family class,” she said. “It’s mainly about relationships with your students, with your families in your classroom and getting to know everybody in your community. It's brought a lot of insight. It will help me in the future to be able to learn how to talk with my families.”
Morris and Jensen are both looking forward to the day when they are in the classroom full-time, first in student teaching — which Morris would like to do overseas — and then during their careers.
“I’m excited for student teaching, but I think I'm most excited to get in the classroom and be there all the time,” said Jensen. “Going back to my classes after my Level 2s was always hard. So I think I'm really going to enjoy just being in the classroom all day, actually doing the work.”
“I want to be the teacher my students can come back to,” said Morris. “I want to be the teacher the kid still remembers when they're a senior in high school, even if I taught them in a preschool or kindergarten. That excites me.”
