![\"Samantha](\"https:\/\/blogs.chapman.edu\/education\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/83\/2017\/12\/Samantha-Barnes17.jpg\")
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Samantha Barnes \u201917 is currently pursuing a career in education through the Teach for America program. She is placed as a kindergarten teacher in Nashville, Tennessee, and has a classroom full of 20 five and six year olds, whom she adores. Samantha spoke with the Attallah College Undergraduate Student Newsletter about her exciting new job, with advice for Attallah students.<\/p>\n
Oh my gosh, IES prepared me so well for this position. The intentional focus IES classes have on social justice, inequity, and bridging the gap within education is very unique, and it helped me know how to serve my students, who fall at the poverty line and are facing inequity. I have such a greater understanding of the importance of serving the whole child, not just the educational and academia facets of a student. IES built my foundation of knowledge of how to advocate for my students appropriately when I haven\u2019t necessarily walked their life experience.<\/p>\n
There is so much I wish I could share, but the thing that sticks out in my mind the most is hold onto your passion. Hold on to that strong conviction that drew you to education. Just within my sliver of a time as a teacher, I already know this is the toughest job I will ever love, but there are people in the education field who will try to shut you and your ideas down. They are all over the place, and I have definitely had more ideas shut down than accepted already. It\u2019s so easy to get down on yourself and question your capabilities as an educator. Keep in mind that it\u2019s not about them, it\u2019s not even about you. It\u2019s all about your kids. So hold on to that passion for your kids, even on your worst days. If you mess up one day (or multiple days) don\u2019t worry, they\u2019re coming back tomorrow so you can try again!<\/p>\n
All the opportunities IES provides for fieldwork and observation helped me immensely. Planning as an educator now, especially as a first-year teacher, I reflect on my fieldwork observations to remember what I saw worked or didn\u2019t work. I reflect on them to gain perspective and new ideas that I can use in my own classroom or suggest to another teacher. Also, the fact that these observations and fieldwork occur at different types of schools gives great insight on how one school functions in comparison to another and how that affects the students. That was really helpful to me when I was applying for a teaching position and deciding where I wanted to teach. It gives you an expectation about which environment you want to contribute to and support.<\/p>\n
The biggest thing I would tell myself is I\u2019ll never be the \u201cperfect teacher,\u201d because there is no such thing. After graduation I was hung up on being the perfect teacher for my students, being \u201cahead of the game\u201d \u2014 by the way, there is no such thing \u2014 knowing the answers to every question, etc. Honestly, that made everything 10 times harder. I would tell my pre-graduate self this: \u201cYou will forget things, but people will give you grace because they\u2019ve been there too. There will be a lot you don\u2019t know, and I mean a lot, but that\u2019s okay because someone, somewhere in your school or district will have an answer and be willing to share. After all, you don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know, which makes asking questions hard sometimes. There will be many situations where you don\u2019t know what to say or do, or you will make a mistake, but that is okay. Most of the time your kids will forgive you because they love you anyway. There will also be a lot you can\u2019t fix, and it will be really infuriating. In those moments, your kids usually just need to be held and told, \u201cI know this isn\u2019t fair, and I am so sorry I can\u2019t fix it. But I\u2019m in your corner, and we can do hard things.\u201d If you mess up one day (or multiple days), it is okay. Your students are coming back tomorrow so you can try again!<\/p>\n
One more thing! I have never realized the importance of self-care more in my life than since I began teaching. In a selfless career, it is way too easy to put yourself on the back burner. You get home and you have emails, lesson planning, grades, and parent calls, and you need to prepare and revise for the next day, become a coach, join a committee, etc. It\u2019s easy to push yourself aside and say, \u201cBut it\u2019s for the kids.\u201d Going home to do all those tasks won\u2019t matter if you\u2019re not giving your kids your best self. I am learning this every single day, and I think it\u2019s one of the most important things I learned. You might have a killer lesson plan, but if you\u2019re too tired, not well fed, and not taking care of your mental health that plan won\u2019t matter because it won\u2019t be executed as intended. Your kids won\u2019t be getting your best self and they know it. They see it. So before you serve them, you have to serve yourself. In every facet possible. It is so important!<\/p>\n
Excerpt from the Attallah College Undergraduate Student Newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Samantha Barnes \u201917 is currently pursuing a career in education through the Teach for America program. She is placed as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1760,"featured_media":6753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"custom_author_name":"","chapman_pin_hero_slider":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,253],"tags":[524,251,110],"class_list":["post-4021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-attallah-college-of-educational-studies","category-student-voices","tag-chapman-university-alumni","tag-ies","tag-integrated-educational-studies"],"yoast_head":"\n