New Beginnings Come with New Feelings

There are many trials and tribulations when it comes to being a teacher, but also many rewards and connections.

For some teachers, becoming a teacher was the last thing they ever thought they’d be doing. That was the case for Kelsey King, who never imagined she’d be back, working to teach middle and high schoolers art. The same was the case for Spanish teacher Patrick Hudson, who thought he’d become a doctor before he found a love for Spanish.

“When I was in school I wanted to get far away and never return. Honestly, I had thought about working with people as a nurse…My mom pushed me to be a teacher because I wanted to work with people,” King said.

However, there are two sides to every story. For Ben Welsh, becoming a math teacher may not have been his initial thought for a future career, but was a path he welcomed. 

“My grandma and both my folks were teachers, so it’s one of those things where it’s kind of what we did,” Welsh said. “Probably my first thought wasn’t to be a teacher, but was to do some farming stuff or even work with computers, but once I got to college, it seems like computers and math work together…it just kind of led right into becoming a math teacher.” 

Both Welsh and King chose to teach their personal favorite subject when they were in high school, as is the case for many other teachers.

“It was a passion of mine that I wanted to help other students discover and learn through. It [art] can be tied to other subjects that people struggle in like science and math and I think it is an all encompassing subject depending how it is being used,” King said.

Hudson, however, found his passion for Spanish, and his ability to learn and experience new things through the Spanish language and culture while in college.

“The reason I chose Spanish is because I can learn something new every single day, I always know there’s always something new I can find with it,” Hudson said.

With change can come stress and confusion, but it can also lead to making new connections. Things like: readjustment, changing classrooms, and meeting new people are just some of the things that teachers have to go through when moving to a new school, or even entering a school to teach for the first time. Throughout those changes the art, math, and foreign language departments, and also the students, have helped King, Welsh, and Hudson individually adjust to teaching high school. 

“All of my high school students have been extremely welcoming and helpful and so has the art department,” King said.

However, adjustments aren’t the only challenge teachers face. All the activities students are in makes it challenging for teachers to help students stay caught up.

 “We love to have all these opportunities and things for kids to experience, but it’s the navigating your classes and saying, ‘okay we were off for this, how do I get caught up,’ and those types of things… At the high school this is the building that has the most kids leaving to go do their activities and athletics. It’s just all the extra moving parts at the high school,” Welsh said.

Another challenge teachers face are the mandatory drills, such as fire, tornado, and lockdown drills are things teachers can’t control, but they are necessary in assuring the safety of staff and students. According to Welsh, those drills can sometimes interrupt the class and can be hard to navigate around. 

“There’s all the things that go on outside of just the teaching curriculum,” Welsh said. “You’ll have a lockdown drill, but we’re supposed to be taking a test at that time.”

Even though there are hardships, teaching is, after all, a passion that many people end up pursuing, and with that there are many enjoyable aspects. King enjoys seeing her students learn and grow in not only their art skills, but their confidence in themselves. Hudson also enjoys the interactions he has with his coworkers, but he mainly enjoys the interactions he has with his students. Welsh’s favorite part about being a teacher is helping students learn new/higher level math skills that can be used in other aspects of life.

“My favorite part about teaching is the students…getting to meet a lot of different people and then being able to be a role model for people that might not have a role model,” Hudson said.