February 29, 2024 • 16 mins
In our series, "From Theory to Practice," we're thrilled to reconnect with some of our CMU Alumni, who we got to know through out STEM Education Scholar Program. Today, we shine the spotlight on Sara Fitzpatrick, a former math teacher and current school counselor.
Links:
From Theory to Practice: Bailey Birman (STEM Education Scholars Series 1)
From Theory to Practice: Ryan Stevens (STEM Education Scholar Series 2)
Intro Music: David Biedenbender
Music by Artem Hramushkin from Pixabay
Music by Jeremiah Alves from Pixabay
Find us on social media:
Instagram: cmichcese
Facebook: cmich_cese
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sarah Fitzpatrick (00:00):
How do I blend those together and support
(00:03):
my students in becoming the bestbest version of themselves but
not force my ideals of whatsuccess is onto them?
Ashley O'Neil (00:14):
Okay, now we're recording
Introduction (00:19):
Welcome to Teach Wonder. Welcome to teach our
podcast hosted by Ashley O'Neilland Julie Cunningham. Welcome
back to teach wonder.
Ashley O'Neil (00:39):
We're in our third episode of this series
from theory to practice, wherewe interview CMU alumni who are
now teaching in schools acrossMichigan, we find out how their
teaching experience compares towhat they expected when they
were students here at CMU. Allof our interviews feature
students that we got to knowthrough our STEM education
scholar program. You can learnmore about that program and
(00:59):
earlier episodes of this seriesor at the link in our show
notes. I was talking to Juliethis week about the series. And
she asked if there were anythemes that were coming up for
me. And initially, I said no,but that wasn't quite true. You
know, I got into educationbecause I saw myself as a people
person, I wanted to supportkids, I wanted to help them
(01:21):
grow. And along the way in theclassroom, as a formal educator,
I think that part shifted to thebackground for me a bit. Not
that I cared about the kidsless. But it was that a lot of
my time and my energy was putinto other places, if you made a
pie chart of my mental energy,and the time I spent doing
school stuff, the biggestportions were planning, grouping
(01:42):
kids into literacy stations,committee, work assessments,
sight words, fluency, mathgroups, all of those portions of
the pie chart kept growing,until I saw building student
relationships more of a means toan end, then as a primary
catalyst of my work, themechanics of school made it easy
to see the lessons as my job,the committee's were my job. And
(02:03):
I know that that may not soundall that different to working
with children is my job. But forme, it was. And that's not
isolated to K 12. Only a goodfriend of mine was on sabbatical
this semester. And when I askedhim what has been significant
for him, he didn't hesitatebefore he explained this, I
noticed a difference betweenhaving a positive impact on my
students. And on theinstitution, I had gotten myself
(02:25):
into a place where I was sayingyes to every committee, every
extra thing, I was everywhere inmy department, I was the go to
if there was something thatneeded to be done. When I go
back, I'm going to be moreselective with my committee work
and what I say yes to the costof all that time came from
myself and from my students. Butit's not always an easy choice.
(02:45):
And it is a tension that I'veheard in all of our interviews,
relationships with the kidsversus classroom management,
relationships with the kidsversus grades and planning and
admin relationships with thekids versus all of it. I'm not
sure it's a theme. But you canhear how each of these CMU alum
have been challenged by holdingspace for their primary work,
working with kids, and all theother stuff that's important,
(03:08):
but sometimes is in conflictwith that primary goal. Our
interview today is possibly themost striking example of this
tension.
Julie Cunningham (03:18):
Sarah was in the original cohort of STEM
education scholars andinstrumental in helping to shape
the program it has become. She'salways been a strong person with
big plans and an interest inmeaningful outcomes. This was
true in her work with thescholar program and with
children at the MakerSpace. Shewanted the best for all involved
and was willing to put the workin for the outcome she desired.
(03:42):
Although I can hear how much shehas learned and grown as a
classroom instructor when shereflects on her position, I can
also hear her passion andcommitment to those she works
with. And this takes me back toour time together at CMU. I
invite you to listen to Sarah'sjourney and to appreciate her
passion for the students sheworks with. I also invite you to
(04:02):
consider that in leaving theclassroom. She has become even
more invested in the well beingof her students.
Ashley O'Neil (04:25):
Okay, so my name is Sarah Fitzpatrick, once Sarah
Fisk. I was, well I'm currentlynow school counseling and a high
school. And I got here bystarting in a high school
teaching math in health andwanting to get more of an
(04:45):
education and decided thatcounseling was something that I
would enjoy doing. So I startedmy master's and then a position
opened in my school and I neededto do an internship so I kind of
just thought, why not hop into ajob position while my internship
was happening, so, and here Iam. And I'm really happy in the
position. And I have currently.
So
Julie Cunningham (05:07):
you're interning and counseling at the
same time. Yeah, I actually just
Sarah Fitzpatrick (05:11):
So I got done in December. So I just actually
graduated with my master's. Butyeah, this whole fall semester
was my internship and workingfull time doing that.
Julie Cunningh (05:21):
Congratulations.
Ashley O'Neil (05:22):
Thank you.
That's fantastic. That'sbusyness? Yeah, it was great.
Yeah,
Julie Cunningham (05:27):
well, and you, and you always have been one to
do more than one thing at atime.
Sarah Fitzpatrick (05:32):
Yeah, I always said that, you know,
like, I'm ready for my master'sto be done and to take a break.
And now I'm like finding littleprojects in the house to do and
I feel like here really soon, myhusband's just going to tell me
to go back to school again,because we can't afford we can't
afford my habits. I guess I haveto keep myself busy.
Ashley O'Neil (05:52):
You were in the classroom for how many years
before you started your masters?
And then you just you took thecounseling position this fall?
Is that right? If I think aboutthe timeline,
Sarah Fitzpatrick (06:02):
um, technically, I started the
position last March. But I wasstill teaching. I was like, part
time teaching part timecounseling in March. I started
my master's, two and a halfyears into teaching. And then
just finished. So our counselorthat we had, prior to me left
(06:24):
last November, and I had appliedfor the job then. But it was
really quick, it was right atthe end of our trimester. So my
principal had to make a decisionnot have a counselor and not
have a teacher. It's easier tonot have a counselor than it is
to not have a teacher. Sothroughout the second trimester,
we did what we needed to to makeadjustments to our third try so
(06:46):
that I could, I was teaching onesection of health and then
counseling the rest of the day,so and then I was full time
starting in the fall. Nice.
Julie Cunningham (06:58):
I would think those two things kind of fit
together a little bit teachinghealth and being a counselor
like I could see overlap andthat,
Sarah Fitzpatrick (07:07):
yeah, the only thing that was a little
tricky is I have to try reallyhard to not have anything to do
with discipline, right? Becausemy role is really supportive.
students, students shouldn't seeme as a disciplinarian,
otherwise, they won't want totalk to me about things. And so
then being Switching gears, andbeing a teacher and trying to
have more of a, you know,control role with students and
(07:33):
then flipping that off, and thenbeing more of like a, on your
counselor, I'm here for anythingtype of a thing. It was, it was
kind of hard. But theconversations I was having with
students who were very similarto what I do as a counselor, so
yeah.
Julie Cunningham (07:48):
Do you miss teaching math?
Sarah Fitzpatrick (07:49):
I miss math.
I don't necessarily Missconvincing others to love math.
Julie Cunningham (07:57):
If that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah.
Yeah. Either an AI or you cananswer this either or both ways,
like in your role as a teacheror in your role now? Or maybe
just the answer, maybe just thequestion is in education, what
challenges do you face?
Sarah Fitzpatrick (08:15):
Um, I think?
I think that's a big question toanswer, because I think it has
to do with demographics ofpeople. But I also think there's
a layer of that, where we bringour own biases to what we expect
people should be. So the waythat I was raised in my life
(08:35):
experiences is very differentfrom what I see our students
experiencing. And so, I've beenstruggling with trying to figure
out how do I blend thosetogether and support my students
in becoming the best bestversion of themselves, but not
force my ideals of what successis on to them, especially in a
(08:58):
very rural area. Students, Imean, getting a high school
diploma is very important. Butwhen they leave here, and
they're going to work on theirfamily farm for the rest of
their lives, you know, that sortof support looks very different
from getting a college educationor something like that. So I
(09:20):
think just in terms of my ownbiases, and my own judgments
based off of what I think peopleshould be, and challenging my
own worldview has been has beena challenge.
Julie Cunningham (09:39):
That's a really, really thoughtful
response. Not that I didn'texpect that from you. I'm just
That's my comment.
Ashley O'Neil (09:46):
I think it takes up some people a long time to
get there to think about thefact that I'm really proud of
where I've gotten, but someoneelse may not want the life that
I'm living, and then I'm happyto be living on that. Tired and
especially difficult when a lotof teachers tend to be people
who liked school, and did reallywell at school, and have fond
(10:08):
memories of school. And so thenwe keep going to school, and
then we go back to schoolprofessionally to convince more
people to like school. And somestudents just haven't had that
experience. Yeah, for sure. Soyou can think about this in your
teaching role, your counselorrole, both roles, but what have
been some highlights for youworking in the school system.
Sarah Fitzpatrick (10:32):
I would just say students in general, in any
capacity, teaching, I mean, itwas always really great when you
saw a student, especiallystudent who had struggle,
usually, but then find success,or even just students who are
always successful. So beingsuccessful was always really
fulfilling. I have to tell mystudents all the time, you know,
(10:53):
whether it's teaching orcounseling, I'm like, I'm not
here for the money. If I washere for the money, I would not
be working in a public educationlike. So I'm really here because
I enjoy seeing in helping othershave good lives and feel
successful in their lives. And Ithink that was one of the
reasons why counseling seemedbetter to me than being in a
(11:15):
classroom, because the classroomenvironment can really take away
from a lot of thoserelationships. Because even
though you want to have thoserelationships, at the end of the
day, you still have a job toteach your content. And
sometimes that can really get inthe way of building good
relationships were now in acounseling role. That's really
just what my job is, is I don'thave to worry about whether or
(11:37):
not they know what y equals mxplus b means. I just need to
make sure that they feel safe inthis building and have the
resources that they need to besuccessful.
Julie Cunningham (11:46):
I'm just curious, and this doesn't even
need to go in the podcastnecessarily. But I was really
curious how a counselingposition works like currently,
would you? Do you see all of thestudents in some capacity? Like
it, like going into theirclassrooms? Or? Or is it only
students who come to see you?
Sarah Fitzpatrick (12:07):
That's a good question. And I'm going to
answer it in a reality versuswhat I want, I guess. So right
now, really, because I've beenjust trying to figure out my
role. Because through myprogram, I learned to be this
(12:28):
thing. But then once youactually get into the position,
you realize all of the thingsthat hold you back from being
able to do what you want to do.
A huge portion of my job isscheduling. And I hate that
because scheduling doesn'treally have that much of an
impact on our students. But Iprobably spend 70 hours or
(12:48):
trimester scheduling students,so but it's something my school
requires me to do. Right. Sothat is something that I've been
working on this year is reallyfiguring out how to have a
comfortable balance, being onecounselor with 460 students, and
being able to see all of themand support them in the ways
(13:10):
that they need to. So ideally,yes, I would work with every
single student in some type ofcapacity. Realistically, right
now, other than seeing them inthe hallway, or popping into
classrooms or whatever, talkingabout schedules. I don't I
haven't really sat with each kidindividually and talk to them.
Ashley O'Neil (13:40):
Were your expectations met when it comes
to teaching education? Why orwhy not? And I think that's a
big question.
Sarah Fitzpatrick (13:46):
It is, and I think I kind of I think I said
it about counseling, and I thinkthis is true for any profession,
right? You go to school to learnhow to do the job, but the
reality doesn't set in until youactually start doing it. Right.
So my expectations becoming amath teacher was that all of my
students were going to lovemath, and they were all going to
get A's because that was theteacher I was going to be right.
(14:08):
And then I hit a brick wall. AndI said, Oh my gosh, why are my
students getting C's? And ittook a teacher explaining, you
know, something that I saidearlier where my ideal self
success is not everybody's idealof success and really
challenging my thinking andthat, for me to realize that my
role as a teacher shouldn't bemaking everybody loved the
(14:32):
content, but rather, makingpeople feel like they can be
successful in a school settingand making them feel safe here
and giving them somerelationships. Which again, I
felt like teaching was gettingin the way of that for me. So
that's why I think I feel somuch more fulfilled being in a
counseling role over aneducator.
Ashley O'Neil (14:58):
Sarah was the first one for grad students I
met when I started working atCMU, our physical Makerspace was
still in progress. So Julie,Sarah and I spent the summer
using this small study room as ashared office and prep space. We
spent a lot of time togetherthat summer, and I remember how
Sarah spent literal daysmeticulously organizing all of
these Lego robot kits. Each kitcomes with approximately
(15:21):
4,000,012 pieces. And Sarahrepeatedly had to organize each
and every one. I grew into myrole at the makerspace while she
was here learning how to be ateacher. And I watched her
flourish here at CMU. And I'veloved this interview because I
got to hear how that determinedundergrad has continued to grow
in her school setting. Thank youfor listening along. This has
been another episode of teachwonder if you're interested in
(15:43):
the rest of this series. Makesure you don't miss out follow
our lark, like our podcast onyour favorite podcast app. You
can find show notes and a fulltranscript on our website. And
if you're listening to thislive, summer is right around the
corner. If you have kids, or ifyou're an educator, come spend
the summer with us. You can findour teacher professional
development options on ourwebsite, and our summer camp
(16:05):
list is coming out on March 11.
Follow us on Facebook andInstagram to catch those
updates.
How do I blend those together and support
(00:03):
my students in becoming the bestbest version of themselves but
not force my ideals of whatsuccess is onto them?
Ashley O'Neil (00:14):
Okay, now we're recording
Introduction (00:19):
Welcome to Teach Wonder. Welcome to teach our
podcast hosted by Ashley O'Neilland Julie Cunningham. Welcome
back to teach wonder.
Ashley O'Neil (00:39):
We're in our third episode of this series
from theory to practice, wherewe interview CMU alumni who are
now teaching in schools acrossMichigan, we find out how their
teaching experience compares towhat they expected when they
were students here at CMU. Allof our interviews feature
students that we got to knowthrough our STEM education
scholar program. You can learnmore about that program and
(00:59):
earlier episodes of this seriesor at the link in our show
notes. I was talking to Juliethis week about the series. And
she asked if there were anythemes that were coming up for
me. And initially, I said no,but that wasn't quite true. You
know, I got into educationbecause I saw myself as a people
person, I wanted to supportkids, I wanted to help them
(01:21):
grow. And along the way in theclassroom, as a formal educator,
I think that part shifted to thebackground for me a bit. Not
that I cared about the kidsless. But it was that a lot of
my time and my energy was putinto other places, if you made a
pie chart of my mental energy,and the time I spent doing
school stuff, the biggestportions were planning, grouping
(01:42):
kids into literacy stations,committee, work assessments,
sight words, fluency, mathgroups, all of those portions of
the pie chart kept growing,until I saw building student
relationships more of a means toan end, then as a primary
catalyst of my work, themechanics of school made it easy
to see the lessons as my job,the committee's were my job. And
(02:03):
I know that that may not soundall that different to working
with children is my job. But forme, it was. And that's not
isolated to K 12. Only a goodfriend of mine was on sabbatical
this semester. And when I askedhim what has been significant
for him, he didn't hesitatebefore he explained this, I
noticed a difference betweenhaving a positive impact on my
students. And on theinstitution, I had gotten myself
(02:25):
into a place where I was sayingyes to every committee, every
extra thing, I was everywhere inmy department, I was the go to
if there was something thatneeded to be done. When I go
back, I'm going to be moreselective with my committee work
and what I say yes to the costof all that time came from
myself and from my students. Butit's not always an easy choice.
(02:45):
And it is a tension that I'veheard in all of our interviews,
relationships with the kidsversus classroom management,
relationships with the kidsversus grades and planning and
admin relationships with thekids versus all of it. I'm not
sure it's a theme. But you canhear how each of these CMU alum
have been challenged by holdingspace for their primary work,
working with kids, and all theother stuff that's important,
(03:08):
but sometimes is in conflictwith that primary goal. Our
interview today is possibly themost striking example of this
tension.
Julie Cunningham (03:18):
Sarah was in the original cohort of STEM
education scholars andinstrumental in helping to shape
the program it has become. She'salways been a strong person with
big plans and an interest inmeaningful outcomes. This was
true in her work with thescholar program and with
children at the MakerSpace. Shewanted the best for all involved
and was willing to put the workin for the outcome she desired.
(03:42):
Although I can hear how much shehas learned and grown as a
classroom instructor when shereflects on her position, I can
also hear her passion andcommitment to those she works
with. And this takes me back toour time together at CMU. I
invite you to listen to Sarah'sjourney and to appreciate her
passion for the students sheworks with. I also invite you to
(04:02):
consider that in leaving theclassroom. She has become even
more invested in the well beingof her students.
Ashley O'Neil (04:25):
Okay, so my name is Sarah Fitzpatrick, once Sarah
Fisk. I was, well I'm currentlynow school counseling and a high
school. And I got here bystarting in a high school
teaching math in health andwanting to get more of an
(04:45):
education and decided thatcounseling was something that I
would enjoy doing. So I startedmy master's and then a position
opened in my school and I neededto do an internship so I kind of
just thought, why not hop into ajob position while my internship
was happening, so, and here Iam. And I'm really happy in the
position. And I have currently.
So
Julie Cunningham (05:07):
you're interning and counseling at the
same time. Yeah, I actually just
Sarah Fitzpatrick (05:11):
So I got done in December. So I just actually
graduated with my master's. Butyeah, this whole fall semester
was my internship and workingfull time doing that.
Julie Cunningh (05:21):
Congratulations.
Ashley O'Neil (05:22):
Thank you.
That's fantastic. That'sbusyness? Yeah, it was great.
Yeah,
Julie Cunningham (05:27):
well, and you, and you always have been one to
do more than one thing at atime.
Sarah Fitzpatrick (05:32):
Yeah, I always said that, you know,
like, I'm ready for my master'sto be done and to take a break.
And now I'm like finding littleprojects in the house to do and
I feel like here really soon, myhusband's just going to tell me
to go back to school again,because we can't afford we can't
afford my habits. I guess I haveto keep myself busy.
Ashley O'Neil (05:52):
You were in the classroom for how many years
before you started your masters?
And then you just you took thecounseling position this fall?
Is that right? If I think aboutthe timeline,
Sarah Fitzpatrick (06:02):
um, technically, I started the
position last March. But I wasstill teaching. I was like, part
time teaching part timecounseling in March. I started
my master's, two and a halfyears into teaching. And then
just finished. So our counselorthat we had, prior to me left
(06:24):
last November, and I had appliedfor the job then. But it was
really quick, it was right atthe end of our trimester. So my
principal had to make a decisionnot have a counselor and not
have a teacher. It's easier tonot have a counselor than it is
to not have a teacher. Sothroughout the second trimester,
we did what we needed to to makeadjustments to our third try so
(06:46):
that I could, I was teaching onesection of health and then
counseling the rest of the day,so and then I was full time
starting in the fall. Nice.
Julie Cunningham (06:58):
I would think those two things kind of fit
together a little bit teachinghealth and being a counselor
like I could see overlap andthat,
Sarah Fitzpatrick (07:07):
yeah, the only thing that was a little
tricky is I have to try reallyhard to not have anything to do
with discipline, right? Becausemy role is really supportive.
students, students shouldn't seeme as a disciplinarian,
otherwise, they won't want totalk to me about things. And so
then being Switching gears, andbeing a teacher and trying to
have more of a, you know,control role with students and
(07:33):
then flipping that off, and thenbeing more of like a, on your
counselor, I'm here for anythingtype of a thing. It was, it was
kind of hard. But theconversations I was having with
students who were very similarto what I do as a counselor, so
yeah.
Julie Cunningham (07:48):
Do you miss teaching math?
Sarah Fitzpatrick (07:49):
I miss math.
I don't necessarily Missconvincing others to love math.
Julie Cunningham (07:57):
If that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah.
Yeah. Either an AI or you cananswer this either or both ways,
like in your role as a teacheror in your role now? Or maybe
just the answer, maybe just thequestion is in education, what
challenges do you face?
Sarah Fitzpatrick (08:15):
Um, I think?
I think that's a big question toanswer, because I think it has
to do with demographics ofpeople. But I also think there's
a layer of that, where we bringour own biases to what we expect
people should be. So the waythat I was raised in my life
(08:35):
experiences is very differentfrom what I see our students
experiencing. And so, I've beenstruggling with trying to figure
out how do I blend thosetogether and support my students
in becoming the best bestversion of themselves, but not
force my ideals of what successis on to them, especially in a
(08:58):
very rural area. Students, Imean, getting a high school
diploma is very important. Butwhen they leave here, and
they're going to work on theirfamily farm for the rest of
their lives, you know, that sortof support looks very different
from getting a college educationor something like that. So I
(09:20):
think just in terms of my ownbiases, and my own judgments
based off of what I think peopleshould be, and challenging my
own worldview has been has beena challenge.
Julie Cunningham (09:39):
That's a really, really thoughtful
response. Not that I didn'texpect that from you. I'm just
That's my comment.
Ashley O'Neil (09:46):
I think it takes up some people a long time to
get there to think about thefact that I'm really proud of
where I've gotten, but someoneelse may not want the life that
I'm living, and then I'm happyto be living on that. Tired and
especially difficult when a lotof teachers tend to be people
who liked school, and did reallywell at school, and have fond
(10:08):
memories of school. And so thenwe keep going to school, and
then we go back to schoolprofessionally to convince more
people to like school. And somestudents just haven't had that
experience. Yeah, for sure. Soyou can think about this in your
teaching role, your counselorrole, both roles, but what have
been some highlights for youworking in the school system.
Sarah Fitzpatrick (10:32):
I would just say students in general, in any
capacity, teaching, I mean, itwas always really great when you
saw a student, especiallystudent who had struggle,
usually, but then find success,or even just students who are
always successful. So beingsuccessful was always really
fulfilling. I have to tell mystudents all the time, you know,
(10:53):
whether it's teaching orcounseling, I'm like, I'm not
here for the money. If I washere for the money, I would not
be working in a public educationlike. So I'm really here because
I enjoy seeing in helping othershave good lives and feel
successful in their lives. And Ithink that was one of the
reasons why counseling seemedbetter to me than being in a
(11:15):
classroom, because the classroomenvironment can really take away
from a lot of thoserelationships. Because even
though you want to have thoserelationships, at the end of the
day, you still have a job toteach your content. And
sometimes that can really get inthe way of building good
relationships were now in acounseling role. That's really
just what my job is, is I don'thave to worry about whether or
(11:37):
not they know what y equals mxplus b means. I just need to
make sure that they feel safe inthis building and have the
resources that they need to besuccessful.
Julie Cunningham (11:46):
I'm just curious, and this doesn't even
need to go in the podcastnecessarily. But I was really
curious how a counselingposition works like currently,
would you? Do you see all of thestudents in some capacity? Like
it, like going into theirclassrooms? Or? Or is it only
students who come to see you?
Sarah Fitzpatrick (12:07):
That's a good question. And I'm going to
answer it in a reality versuswhat I want, I guess. So right
now, really, because I've beenjust trying to figure out my
role. Because through myprogram, I learned to be this
(12:28):
thing. But then once youactually get into the position,
you realize all of the thingsthat hold you back from being
able to do what you want to do.
A huge portion of my job isscheduling. And I hate that
because scheduling doesn'treally have that much of an
impact on our students. But Iprobably spend 70 hours or
(12:48):
trimester scheduling students,so but it's something my school
requires me to do. Right. Sothat is something that I've been
working on this year is reallyfiguring out how to have a
comfortable balance, being onecounselor with 460 students, and
being able to see all of themand support them in the ways
(13:10):
that they need to. So ideally,yes, I would work with every
single student in some type ofcapacity. Realistically, right
now, other than seeing them inthe hallway, or popping into
classrooms or whatever, talkingabout schedules. I don't I
haven't really sat with each kidindividually and talk to them.
Ashley O'Neil (13:40):
Were your expectations met when it comes
to teaching education? Why orwhy not? And I think that's a
big question.
Sarah Fitzpatrick (13:46):
It is, and I think I kind of I think I said
it about counseling, and I thinkthis is true for any profession,
right? You go to school to learnhow to do the job, but the
reality doesn't set in until youactually start doing it. Right.
So my expectations becoming amath teacher was that all of my
students were going to lovemath, and they were all going to
get A's because that was theteacher I was going to be right.
(14:08):
And then I hit a brick wall. AndI said, Oh my gosh, why are my
students getting C's? And ittook a teacher explaining, you
know, something that I saidearlier where my ideal self
success is not everybody's idealof success and really
challenging my thinking andthat, for me to realize that my
role as a teacher shouldn't bemaking everybody loved the
(14:32):
content, but rather, makingpeople feel like they can be
successful in a school settingand making them feel safe here
and giving them somerelationships. Which again, I
felt like teaching was gettingin the way of that for me. So
that's why I think I feel somuch more fulfilled being in a
counseling role over aneducator.
Ashley O'Neil (14:58):
Sarah was the first one for grad students I
met when I started working atCMU, our physical Makerspace was
still in progress. So Julie,Sarah and I spent the summer
using this small study room as ashared office and prep space. We
spent a lot of time togetherthat summer, and I remember how
Sarah spent literal daysmeticulously organizing all of
these Lego robot kits. Each kitcomes with approximately
(15:21):
4,000,012 pieces. And Sarahrepeatedly had to organize each
and every one. I grew into myrole at the makerspace while she
was here learning how to be ateacher. And I watched her
flourish here at CMU. And I'veloved this interview because I
got to hear how that determinedundergrad has continued to grow
in her school setting. Thank youfor listening along. This has
been another episode of teachwonder if you're interested in
(15:43):
the rest of this series. Makesure you don't miss out follow
our lark, like our podcast onyour favorite podcast app. You
can find show notes and a fulltranscript on our website. And
if you're listening to thislive, summer is right around the
corner. If you have kids, or ifyou're an educator, come spend
the summer with us. You can findour teacher professional
development options on ourwebsite, and our summer camp
(16:05):
list is coming out on March 11.
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updates.
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