Edina High School is kicking off the new year with an addition to the staff: On Jan. 6, it welcomed new student teachers to the building.
EHS began hosting students from the University of Minnesota as student assistant teachers after winter break. The first few weeks have been beneficial for teachers to assess the effectiveness of their teaching strategies, and better the classroom. With the help of their assistant teachers.
Trevor Howells, one of the new student teachers at EHS, is joining social studies teacher Chris Griggs in teaching AP Human Geography. Howells is working to get his social studies teaching license along with his master’s degree in education at the University of Minnesota. Howells hopes to start full time teaching next fall.
Howells said that coming back to high school just a few years after leaving was an emotional experience.
“It’s sort of surreal coming back and being one of the teachers,” Howells said. “Because you think of teachers as so different from you. And then when you come back as a teacher, it’s like, oh, they’re just people after all.”
Howells has quickly acquainted himself with the staff and students. “Everybody’s been really awesome,” he said. “It’s been good as I’ve been learning everyone’s names and started getting comfortable.”
Courtney Major, another social studies teacher, is also hosting a student teacher this year. “Student teachers bring new information, they bring in new ideas, and they challenge me to think about my own teaching practice and how I can be a better teacher,” she said.
Kayleigh Oestreicher, who is joining Major, also hopes to be a teacher next fall. In highschool, she was a figure skater who then went onto coach and work as well as summer camps. She soon realized that she enjoyed working with kids, which sparked her interest in teaching.
Throughout her first few weeks at EHS, O has been adjusting to the baseline of how the classroom. “A lot from my perspective is observing and watching how the classroom is run and trying to figure out what my role is going to be as far as trying new things,” O said.
With an extra adult in the room, teachers themselves benefit from it as well.
“It’s always nice to have more adults in the room, but one thing it does for me is it gives me a chance to step back and observe what and how the students are learning, and also how we teach them,” Griggs said.
This is the fifth student teacher Griggs has hosted in his class. In addition to his love of teaching his students, he also loves the opportunity to teach teachers.