Hello! My name is Maggie. I attended the University of Maine, Farmington and graduated in December 2011. I received a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education with a concentration in English.
Lately I have been working for the Bangor School Department. Most of this past semester I was a substitute, willing to work at all grade levels, and then starting in May I have been tutoring full time at the James F. Doughty School. While I was subbing I experienced many different classes and challenges. All were rewarding and educational. Let me just say that after I was done subbing in a Pre-K classroom, I was definitely sure that I liked Middle School and High School best. :) While I was tutoring I had many students I worked with. I worked a normal school day with different students throughout the day. I tutored every core subject at some point throughout the day. This has been my only experience with teaching after graduation.
Before graduation I spent my student teaching in two different schools. The majority of my time was spent at Portland High School. There I was either teaching in an AP environment or a low-level environment. I really found my area with the lower level students. However, in November I made the switch to Saco Middle School in a sixth grade classroom. I had a great time at both schools and learned quite a bit about teaching and about myself.
Currently, I am not working toward a degree. I am taking this class because it was recommended to me by a few colleagues and I wanted to further my education. My goal is to end up in a middle school someday.
While taking this class I will be working as the Aquatics Director at Camp Peirce Webber in Hampden, Maine. This is a day camp through the Bangor Y.
Good luck everyone!
Thanks for the introduction, Maggie. You have had quite the experience this spring and it will serve you well when you begin applying for full-time teaching jobs. Also, congrats on your relatively recent graduation from UMF.
ReplyDeleteIt is very important to find the age group and the teaching level that is a best fit for you. For some people, any ages and grades in the K-12 system would be fine, but for more of us, we definitely lean toward a particular age level. Mine was high school first and then I found my real niche working with young adolescents in middle level schools. That is where it happened for me!