Fair Groves Fall Semester student teachers will be leaving in December. Many of them learned a lot from the teachers they were observing and learning from. Kelly Camp learned a lot from Mr. Joseph Florez, one of Fair Grove High School English teachers. “I don’t think I realized how exhausting it truly is, either. The hardest part for me is keeping up with grading and planning lessons,” Camp added that she now thinks, “Teaching isn’t about teaching, it’s about the students.” The student teachers will be leaving Fair Grove to further their career in teaching.

Many opinions and expectations have greatly changed since the beginning of the school year. The family living teacher, Mrs. Darci Friberg’s intern/student teacher, Sierra Zeiss says that her expectations drastically changed, “It was totally different. I was expecting the small school and that’s what I got but the students are different than what I expected.” Although Zeiss won’t be leaving until after April, she still has already learned so much from Friberg.

Camp was scared to give students too much freedom but began to learn that students need freedom. She thinks that “I thought I would lose control of the classroom. I’ve learned that it’s okay to give students a little more freedom with assignments after you build that trust with them. This is balanced with staying strict on behavior and expectations, but I think the freedom is appreciated by students.” 

Student teachers get a little more control over the classroom as the semester progresses. They get more opportunities to get a feel for the classroom as well as begin to teach themselves. Zeiss will eventually teach Friberg’s classes this upcoming semester, moving up to teaching almost every day. On the other hand Camp teachers a lot in Florez’s class, giving her more opportunity to learn the pros and cons of teaching. Not all student teachers will leave in December but the majority will. Fair Grove has a lot of student teachers and will continue to welcome more throughout the upcoming school years.