Many teachers still remember first experiences of their first teaching jobs. Interviews to several teachers, whom have been here for years, show how they felt on their first day of school.

Interviews with Joe Celia, Ian Mcbee, and Jennifer Scott, were held and revealed what it’s like to be on the teacher end of things. It’s good sometimes for students to open up their perspectives and consider how the teachers feel even though students also, are coming back to school again.

Joe Celia

Walking through his first teaching job, Celia remembers the feeling of being nervous. “I was scared.” said Celia. Working in the ‘behavioral class’ of about 40, all Celia could think is, “how will I control them?”

At Lawrence High School the students who “FA-ed” or Failed to Attend, were placed in Celia’s room to behave and complete what they needed to. This was a challenge, but nothing Celia was not up for.

Celia’s hopes and dreams of teaching are that he does, “a good job,”  and helps students learn. Celia said that the college classes and theories went, “right out the window, it was all just figuring out how to really engage these kids,” Celia said.

Many teachers hold goals close to Celia’s. They care and they want students to succeed and are here to help students learn as much as they can until we are on our own.

Celia urges students to realize that teachers also have a nerve-wracking first day of school.

Ian McBee

McBee also gave details about how he became a teacher and started in the teaching world. “I was a teacher assistant for undergraduate chemistry labs,” said McBee. He started at UVM, University of Vermont, around 2004. He aided in teaching what he always enjoyed, labs and experiments.

“What stood out the most was learning the hard way to be prepared and always explaining ‘Why?’.” Mcbee said. ‘Why?’ is always a question teachers need to be prepared for and McBee always knew what he learned in school. But then when put in the real life experiences, there was a lot more explaining than he was aware of.

McBee’s hopes are to continue working hard and get better every year. He says he enjoys when he can be aware of some of his accomplishments. “What’s the best is when graduates email me to say how well they are doing in a college chemistry class.”

McBee had a little of a different road to becoming a teacher. He has no education degree but he went to a grad school for Chemistry after college for Chemistry. He had lots of on-the-job training where he thinks most of the knowledge came from.

Both of his parents were teachers so he had a good insight and good amount of tips on how to be a teacher and not just have college education theories. “I had a realistic expectation.” McBee says it’s all about experience and what advice you use should depend on the scenario and what is necessary.

Jennifer Scott

In the Spanish Department, Scott, tells her story of her memories of beginning to teach. For 2 years after going to college for a masters in Spanish, Scott did IA (Instructional assistance) for the children in Essex Aggie with Special Needs. They also needed her there for a Basketball Coach which was perfect for Scott.

Soon after IA-ing and being in the classrooms she loved it. “I knew right away,” she said. She went back to school to get her education degree as well. Doing this after being tired of her desk job and wanting to be challenged.

The work she did at Essex really shows how Scott was meant to be a teacher. “I would help anyone in the class not just Special Needs students,” she said, leading on to what she feared, “I loved all the different subjects, but at times it was hard to know how to help” seeing as at the time Essex had no Spanish Department.

When she first started teaching on her own is when Scott immediately started having an even better time. “The first year I was excited about having my own classroom and my own class of students, and also giving and grading tests and quizzes,” she said.

Her hopes are “I don’t get stuck in a rut, being here for about 12 years now, I want to update to the state requirements of teaching and always being doing a great job teaching.” Scott is loving teaching and feels much more fulfilled  teaching.

Teachers will always remember how it was to first start off teaching and they learned from it just as students learn from their first day of school, and everyday on until graduation.