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SBU | Career > Her20s

Childlike Wonder

Ella McIntyre Student Contributor, St. Bonaventure University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

It is finally time for me to start taking over classrooms as I prepare for my career as a teacher! I have started my clinical block experience, which will help me build up into my student teaching semester in the fall. Although I am ecstatic and getting more and more comfortable within my placement, I am also realizing I’m old. I’ve got next to no clue what “the kids” are into “these days” and am searching up various sayings on TikTok trying to figure out what I’m hearing from people that are 4-8 years younger than me. 

That said, I am also a child. I love coloring in coloring books, reading fictional books that are for adolescents, and playing in the snow. It is a perfect balance that perfectly describes being in your twenties. It is also the perfect balance that allows me to be in the profession that I’m in. This mixture of old and little kid activities allows me to joke around with students and accomplish the work and content we need to get through in a school year. 

Here are some of my favorite memories from my various placements leading up to my clinical block experience: 

In New Visions I took on a variety of elementary, middle, and high school classrooms during my senior year of high school. Although my high school placements were closer to exclusively observation hours, my other placements allowed more experience in helping out within the classroom. I met and received a variety of different paper crafts and notes from students in the classes I was in. In middle school I was a borderline substitute for the substitute in a middle school art classroom and helped out chatting with the students about their art projects. In another middle school, I started drawing with homeroom students and teaching English class concepts from my placement teachers lesson plans. It cemented my love for teaching middle school and feeling more okay about high school. 

In my sophomore year of college, I was tutoring at Franklinville and getting used to a different set up of middle school that was different from those local to me in my hometown. Although fun, I didn’t make super deep connections with the students or the curriculum considering many of the students did not want help. 

The next semester I was in a special education class in Olean. I absolutely loved my placement in a first-grade classroom. I was able to make connections with the students and celebrate all of their successes in communication, and fine motor skills as they learn how to be in school. They were wonderful and I enjoyed helping out in the classroom. There were countless times to reinforce my love of teaching. I am so grateful for all of the experiences that led me to this point.

Ella McIntyre

SBU '27

Ella is a member of the St. Bonaventure Her Campus Chapter. She plans on writing pieces that cover music, literature, TV and Movies, and the happenings of her life here at SBU.

Ella is a junior Inclusive Adolescent Education and English double Major. She enjoyed doing New Visions Education during her senior year of high school, which gave her a small experience of observing middle and high school classrooms. She has enjoyed exploring all of the clubs and opportunities SBU has to offer, and continues to do so by joining Her Campus, volunteering at the SPCA, as a member of the Bonaventure Education Association (BEA, and SGA representative for SBU for Equality and SBU College Democrats.

Outside of classes and Her Campus, Ella can be found studying, reading, or outside soaking up the sun (whenever it’s an option to “photosynthesize”). Ella also loves chatting with friends as a part of her not-so-quick study breaks.