Photo: CIS instructor Jasmin Wheeler and former CIS students, Dionna Berzat, Samantha Schlomka, and Miranda Gilman.
According to our YouScience self-discovery data, 44% of our students have the skills/aptitudes to be great educators (listed in their top 10). And with a nationwide teacher shortage, now is a great time to create an internal pipeline of talent. Jasmin, Wheeler teaches a University of MN class called CIS Explore the Teaching Profession. Through this class, students get hands-on experience in the classroom while they are still in high school, which is great because "you can't be what you can't see!"
What's special about this photo is that the three amazing women pictured here with Jasmin are products of her class, and went forward with a college major in education. Currently, all three women are employed with District 622.
Ms. Wheeler reports, "Miranda is a kindergarten teacher at Carver Elementary, Samantha is a long term sub at Carver, and Dionna is doing her student teaching there as well. We had a blast catching up and talking about their experiences. I also asked them for advice for my current CIS students."
This was their advice to my current students:
- Look more into all of the jobs in education, not just teachers.
- Find a school that starts working in schools right away for practicum
- Ask in interview if grade level teams work on curriculum together
- Ask a lot of questions when student teaching and during your first year.
- Get comfortable with feeling like you aren’t doing well. You can’t do it all. Give up on perfection; it is impossible.
