Learning to teach can be a tough process, but as Allyson Anderson knows a rewarding one too. Anderson, who graduated in April 2017, is now a full time 9th grade math teacher at American Fork junior high in her first full year of teaching.
Going from classes at BYU to teaching real kids was not an easy transition as every teacher knows, but Anderson is especially grateful for the preparation she received from her classes and her teaching mentor.
“My favorite part of student teaching was having a teaching partner who helped hold me accountable and helped me see the progress that I was making every day,” she said. “It was tough getting used to teaching every single day because I was always finding things I could improve upon every time I taught which sometimes felt overwhelming. I made it through those growing pains and even though I am far from a perfect teacher today, I am more confident and better prepared than I used to be.”
Anderson felt she was able to make it through her student experience thanks to the evaluations that she went through with her teaching mentor. Even though they were difficult to adapt to at first, she now has integrated self-evaluations into her teaching. Now, she can better cater her teaching to her students’ needs.
Anderson, reflecting on her student teaching experience, was grateful for all the hard lessons she learned from the 9th graders in her classes and her teaching mentor. However, it was her BYU experience that gave her the base necessary to succeed in her career.
“Classes at BYU taught me how to understand math on my own that I may have forgotten or not even learned,” Anderson said. “BYU gave me methods to better understand math so that when I’m asked to teach things that are new to me I have the ability to do so.”
Anderson feels that the classes at BYU gave her the ability to dissect math and deepen her understanding of it, so that she can more effectively teach her students.
“I’m super grateful for BYU, and the task-based learning tools that my education gave me,” said Anderson.
Even though teaching is a huge challenge, Anderson is constantly trying to improve her teaching and build on what she learned during her classes and her time student teaching. For more about Anderson, see the Video link below.