Sean Boone, BSEd ’15
Springdale Elementary, Fort Worth ISD, second-grade math and science
My first year in the classroom was an incredible year with ups and downs, moments of calm, and others of organized chaos.
I was able to be very successful because I relied on what I had learned at Baylor. All the skills and strategies I had developed by going to classes made me an effective instructor, but the years I spent as a TA [teaching associate/junior year] and Intern [senior year] — working with students, parents, and other educators — is what made me a great teacher. The human element of teaching is what makes every day an adventure and unpredictable. Without the experiences I had at Baylor, there is no doubt that I wouldn’t have been able to be so calm and collected, even when I was thinking, “How in the world is this happening right now?”
One of the amazing things I got to do this year was volunteer to become my school’s Garden Coordinator. Working with an amazing organization called REAL School Gardens, I have been able to attend trainings on how to incorporate our school garden into lessons in all content areas. This allows me the opportunity to work with all grade levels and develop a relationship with students I usually would never have a chance to.
Another rewarding experience was becoming a tutor for our school’s reading camp. I had the chance to meet with the same 12 students a couple times a week in small groups to help them develop the reading skills. The amount of growth these students showed was incredible and has made a drastic difference in their classroom performance.
In the beginning of the year, I struggled with pouring too much of my time into my work in an inefficient way and not leaving enough time for myself to have relationships outside of work, which influenced my effectiveness as a teacher. I soon found an organization outside of school that I got very involved with. This meant my time was stretched thin, but that simply challenged me to increase the quality and quantity of work I could get done in the same amount of time. Every day I came home exhausted, but if I could go back, I wouldn’t change a thing.
This upcoming year, my principal has decided to move me to third grade, and I will teach ELAR [English, Language Arts, Reading] and Social Studies. This will be a challenging year, and I’m going to learn a lot of things. Fortunately I will have the exact same students as I had this previous year, and I know the struggles that they come to school with every day. I can’t wait to see them in the upcoming months.