Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Testing the Teacher


My last year of college was a year of testing.  An example was, September Experience, which consisted of time scheduled at a public school as the year started.  It was intended to give a sense of the start-up activity, first hand.  There was a varying amount of participation, dependent on the supervising teachers.  It could be a reality check for the want-a-be teacher, though I hadn’t heard of any one changing majors at this late date as a result of September Experience.  I think it would be better to graduate and try teaching on a real assignment before making a decision like that.

My September Experience had been arranged with Custer County High School and the Vice Principal was to be my supervisor.  I was surprised the automotive program would be the area I would observe with several short visitations to academic classes.   I appreciated the opportunity to stay at home and work with Custer County High School during these start-up days, but would have felt more at ease in the farm shop.  Maybe that was part of the stratagem; to use an unfamiliar situation rather than a “home coming” type of placement.

It felt odd to walk into the initial meeting with teachers I had studied under just three years before.  The meeting provided an opportunity for introductions of new faculty and staff.  My reason for being there was also explained to everyone.  I received a warm welcome for joining the education community and a number of the faculty offered to meet with me if I had questions.  There were several new faculty members, but none in the area I would be observing.  The Principal covered changes in procedures as well as a quick review of the first semester’s activities.  This brought back memories of that first semester I attended Custer County High School.

 When all the general house keeping items had been covered, the faculty, staff and I adjourned to department meetings.  This was where details of the department’s start-up were discussed, and I felt this was where my learning was taking place.  In an earlier meeting with my supervisor, the Vice Principal, I was advised to keep a journal as the days of my experience progressed.  This as well as several other evaluation pieces would be collected at the end of the experience to constitute the evaluation of my September Experience,

Department meetings were used to identify things that had to be done during the first week.  I was assigned to help with an inventory of tools and order missing or broken units.  The department chairman then went over my order and correlated it with the subject matter to be covered and projected the enrollment in each class.  I was impressed by this procedure and never suspected this type of detail planning took place before school started. It made sense to be as ready as possible for the students when they would arrive the next week.  This type of preparation filled the rest of the week providing an excellent opportunity to get to know the department faculty.

The next week was the start of first semester and students found their way to the automotive shop, ready and eager to start class.  The instructors were ready to teach and school was on and operating in good spirit and excitement.  The planning and preparation were essential for a positive start.


I had opportunity to work directly with some students in one class and corrected papers for another instructor.  One day I sat in on several academic classes.  It was interesting to compare the varied types of classes and how the students reacted to the subject matter.  Before I realized it my September experience was over.  I had an exit interview with my supervisor, answered an open-ended set of questions and turned in my journal.  Late in the day I dropped by the auto shop and thanked the faculty for their tolerance in putting up with me and answering my questions.  Several asked what my plans were.  Upon learning of my desire to teach some where in the state as close to Miles City as possible, they indicated I should come back.  They had plenty of work for me.  That was good for my ego.  I walked the familiar street back to Mom’s place.


*Taken from "Which Road Should I Follow?, Volume 1, Growing up in the country", an autobiography by Edwin K. Hill.



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