Indiana University of Pennsylvania offers 26 different majors in the education field. As a Crimson Hawk, you can study to become anything from a middle-level math teacher to a vocational-technical instructor. In fact, when IUP was first established in 1875, it was known as the Indiana Normal School and specialized in training students to become professional educators. Needless to say, IUP is a great institution to attend if you hope to be the head of a classroom someday. However, being an education major is a lot easier said than done. Let’s take a look at the daily struggles that these pupils experience…
The two scariest words in the world: Step one.
Before you can begin to take any methods courses, you need to be admitted to step one. Education professors and advisers do an excellent job of making you aware of this, but that doesn’t make the process less stressful. PAPA exams must be taken and passed, essays must be written, and clearances must be obtained all while trying to stay afloat during your third semester of college!
You can recite every level of Bloom’s Taxonomy in your sleep.
IUP does an excellent job of making students aware of current theories in education by requiring them to take courses such as educational psychology. These types of courses help students to realize that no student learns in the same way or at the same pace. That being said, every education major has certainly learned about Bloom’s Taxonomy and that MEMORY DOES NOT = LEARNING!
You have made over 100 lesson plans, and still don’t know what you’re doing.
The first time one of your professors asks you to create a lesson plan, you have no idea what you’re doing. ISTE standards? Objectives? Formative assessments? Is this even ENGLISH?! But the more you do them…the more confused you become. But don’t worry, you eventually learn how to pretend you know what you’re doing!
You hear “Oh, that is not a good field to be in right now,” at least once at any family gathering.
Listen, I am not in this field for the money. I am in it for the amazing feeling I get when I see a student who is learning and improving themselves against all odds. I do NOT need your negativity. Also, how dare you try to discourage someone from giving a child the education he or she deserves?
You watch the sales at department stores like a hawk.
Cardigans are buy one get one at Macy’s? SCORE!!! As an education student at IUP, a lot of methods and presentation courses require you to attend class dressed professionally, so you are able to build your teacher wardrobe at a very early stage in your career. This can be difficult, especially because as a student, your finances are often lacking. Thus, the word “sale” becomes a magic word.
Looking at photos of other teachers’ classrooms on Pinterest gives you butterflies.
While other people are planning their weddings or saving recipes for gluten free Pop Tarts, your smiling like a fool at a photo of a bulletin board decorated in a Dr. Seuss theme. It’s the little things!
Hearing “You will be such a great teacher” is the highest possible compliment.
Most education majors have known they wanted to be a teacher since childhood. Now that they are finally pursuing their dream, their dedication is unwavering. That being said, when somebody recognizes that you possess the determination, patience, and passion that makes a teacher great…that is a high that you may never come down from.
