Nov 2, 2016 By Jake Diguilio for The Yellow Jacket 3 min read

Senior education majors at Waynesburg University have gone through years of different activities in preparation for graduation and moving on to the real world. 

The preparation begins in their freshman year, attending classes. Once they are acclimated to the education program, the students are finally ready for their last step: student teaching at a local school. 

Yvonne Weaver, chairperson for the Education Department, was able to reflect on these senior students and their experiences student teaching. 

All senior education majors are required to participate in field placements, while still taking college courses as well, which can be a struggle. 

“The student’s field placements are determined by what courses [they] have taken over the time through the last three years,” said Weaver. “…Students take classes Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and are out in the field on Tuesday and Thursdays for a full day of school with the children.”

 Students help teach subjects that are closely related to what they would like to teach after college, as well as a variety of other subjects, depending on the childrens’ ages. 

J.T. Thompson, a member of Waynesburg University’s class of 2015 and former student in the education program, worked with students of Central Greene School District and helped teach a ninth grade Civics class. 

Thompson, who now works at East Liverpool City School as a special education teacher, teaches classes for students between the fifth and twelfth grade. 

He said that he believes his field placement allowed him to grow and learn from the students to figure out different ways of teaching them.

 “The field placement I was assigned to provided me so much experience and taught me so many skills on how to help these children out and figure out different ways to teach these children,” said Thompson.

Thompson noted the learning experiences he had while working with the students, helping him to understand that he would have to cater to their learning abilities.

“One of the biggest lessons that I learned through student teaching was that you have to be able to adapt and change your teaching styles for students,” said Thompson. “Some students may struggle with learning the information so you have to be able to slow things down and make it as simple as possible for these children.”

Waynesburg University students work through a variety of school districts ranging between Washington, Fayette and Greene Counties. Weaver indicated that the school districts are very particular about which students will work at their school.

“School districts were very strict on deciding which students would work at their schools, they did not want students deciding on their own where they should go,” said Weaver.

Weaver noted the overall importance of the field placements and what they mean for the students.

“The more field experience these students get with the children will make it so much easier when they are out of college and in the real world, when they are looking for a full time teaching job,” she said.