Teacher Interview: Kirstin Edwards

One of my many favorite things about being an education major is that I have great friends who I have gotten to know through the education program. One of those friends is Kirstin Edwards. She is also a Sophomore at Oakland University, but is getting two endorsements: one in mathematics and one language arts. This semester, Kirstin is placed in a kindergarten classroom at Roosevelt Elementary in Keego Harbor. In addition to her studies for the elementary ed program she has also been volunteering in the kids ministries at her church where she leads a group of thirty 2nd and 3rd graders in a Bible lesson. 

Like myself, Kirstin didn't start out her time as a university student majoring in elementary education. Her freshman year she was a journalism major, but she didn't have a passion for journalism and was looking for something more. Kirstin told me she's wanted to be a teacher ever since she was a little girl. "I have three older siblings that are all close in age, and I used to force them to play school with me in the summer. I was always the teacher and they were annoyed," she laughed. Like in any major, Kirstin has also had opposition from her family on her path to becoming a teacher. "When I was six, I remember holding my grandpa’s hand while on a walk in our neighborhood and him asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up. When I told him that I wanted to be a teacher, he let go of my hand and told me he would never be proud of me if I became a teacher. I came to college as a journalism major and quickly realized that was not for me, so I decided to follow my dreams and become a teacher, sorry grandpa!" This anecdote Kirstin shared with me might surprise you, but it is very common in the field of education. Many people don't appreciate teachers, or future teachers, and it's those types of people that have the philosophy of those who can do, and those who can't teach, no matter how hard teachers work or how great they are at their jobs.

Since Kirstin is in her first year of the elementary education program, I asked her if she's been able to interact with any children yet. She told me that last semester she worked in the Lowry Center on campus, volunteering in the pre-k classroom. As an elementary education student you are required to spend 70 hours with children between the ages of 4 and 14, and she wasn't quite sure if she would want to teach the very young children, so she gave it a shot. "Well, the data is in! I do not want to teach four year olds, " she confessed, "They were adorable, but I'm not sure if I have the patience or the desire to teach the most basic skills of life like tying shoes and making sure children go to the bathroom when they think they have to." Kirstin has a very different perspective of the littles and big kids. Where the last teacher I interviewed, Amanda Lowe, would love to work with littles, Kirstin would much rather become a 4th or 5th grade teacher. That's one of the things I love most about the education field-every teacher has unique experiences and passions that make them their own. Not one teacher will do things the exact way as another and that's what makes it a fascinating and diverse career.

I asked Kirstin if she's had any students who've stood out to her through her experiences; "There is one student in my placement right now that struggles with severe ADHD and comes from a bad home life. He feels like he’s not loved and he gets frustrated with himself because he can never focus. Most of my day spent at Roosevelt consist of me being with this student because needs somebody to cheer him on and show him praise when he focuses long enough to do something right. I feel so lucky to be able to help this student out even for half a day, once a week. He tells me every day that he’s happy I’m there and when I leave, he asks when I’ll be back. It’s students like him that tell me I made the right choice to be a teacher."

Because Kirstin is passionate about STEM (which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) I asked her about an activity she might want to do with her students in the future. Kirstin said, "A lot of students in the past were not exposed to any kind of science until they got to middle or high school-making science really intimidating when they got there. In my classroom, I want to put a huge emphasis on science experiments because they're fun and they make science fun!" Kirstin also discussed how she would like to intertwine subjects in her classroom. "One thing that has caught my eye is the combining of two unlikely things like math and art. For example, students can look at a piece of art, like Castle and Sun by Paul McKee, and it can be used in a math lesson for practice with fractions with different denominators. By recreating a piece of art, they learn to appreciate the artists work and they get a chance to be creative, but are also learning math simultaneously. My main goal with STEM content is to make it appealing to all kinds of students and less intimidating."

Through this interview I got to know Kirstin a bit better and I'm proud she is one of my friends. She has helped me in my own struggles as an education major, so I asked her to share some advice for other aspiring teachers; "If you give it your best shot now while you're in school, you will pass the tests, you will pass the class, and you will be prepared for the future. We have to do a lot right now and it's exhausting, but it'll be okay."

Finally, Kirstin explained to me why she's so passionate about education. "I think being a kid is a lot harder than people think it is. They don't have any freedom, they're constantly being told what to do and how to do it, and they're growing physically and mentally at rapid speeds. If my classroom can be a place where students feel loved, appreciated, find a bit of freedom and discover themselves a little bit along the way then my goal is accomplished." With her intelligence and heart for children I know that Kirstin will be a great teacher, and it is an honor to grow and learn beside her.