University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 27, April 17

                        First grade experience
            Student teaching takes seniors into classrooms
                                   
     While watching a film in a freshman sociology class
about socially and economically impoverished areas in
America, senior education major Jessica Wigmore realized she
wanted to reach out and help others.
      "Sitting there, watching that movie," Wigmore
recalled, "really opened my eyes. It gave me direction and
made me want to try to change things." She said that
teaching would enable her to be a role model for children
and make a change in their lives.
     At the end of that year, the Pennsburg, Pa., student
transferred from arts and science to education. Currently,
she is fulfilling her degree requirements with a full
semester of hands-on student teaching.
     In the nearby Cecil County School District, Wigmore
teaches math to sixth, seventh and eighth graders at North
East Middle School. After six weeks, she will teach first
graders in Kenmore Elementary School.
     Overall, Wigmore said her student teaching has been
rewarding and challenging. She said she likes her school and
the staff.
     "I look forward to every morning," she said, "because
each day I learn a little more, from both the students and
my cooperating teacher. I'm changing the way I teach and
making it better and better every day. I can see that I'm
constantly improving with each new experience."
     The hardest thing about teaching, Wigmore said, is
giving a bad grade. "Regardless of whether one likes the
student or not," she said, "it is so hard to fail a student.
But, they are growing up and have to learn to take
responsibility for their actions.
     "Middle school students like to see how far they can
push you," she said. "At first, I tried to be lenient and
understanding, but nothing was working. So I finally
enforced the discipline policy of two warnings and then a
detention. Even though I didn't like it, after giving that
first detention, it was very effective."
     Wigmore said she looks forward to graduating and taking
on a classroom of her own. As a teacher, she said she also
would like to get involved with extracurricular activities
within the school, such as the student council or the swim
team.
     Has her student teaching prepared her for real world?
"100 percent," she said "There s no substitute for it!"
                                                 -Kathy Tabb