As University of the Ozarks senior elementary education major Annie Nelligan prepares to graduate in May, she said she is a little nervous but mainly confident as she prepares to begin her teaching career.
Nelligan, from Fort Smith, Ark., has spent the last year student-teaching at Clarksville Primary School, preparing to take over her own classroom in a few short months. Nelligan has been hired by a nearby elementary school in the Arkansas River Valley pending its school board approval.
“Getting that initial job before I even graduate college feels like having a huge weight lifted off my shoulders,” Nelligan said. “I am so excited to be able to enter the field so soon after graduation. It is a dream come true to finally have my own classroom.”
Nelligan called her student internship the favorite part of her educational experience at Ozarks.
“Nothing prepares you for being a teacher like being in a classroom does,” she said. “Not only do I feel more prepared to succeed in my own classroom but, upon completing my internship hours, I will graduate with a standard license to teach K-6, which is not something most programs offer.”
Nelligan said she has watched herself grow immensely over the past year through the internship.
“Before entering my internship, I was nervous about ability to perform as a teacher,” she said. “I knew I had done everything to educate myself but was anxious about my capabilities of putting this knowledge into action as teaching is so fast-paced and children are unpredictable. After being in internship and getting to do a full takeover of the classroom, I’ve proven myself capable of enacting behavioral and educational strategies I’ve learned, within the field. The job is extremely taxing but the reward of building a family within my classroom where I watch them learn and grow every day is indescribably rewarding.”
Nelligan said one recent classroom experience stands out to her. It involved a class project where she created book models for her students to work with to reinforce their knowledge of plants.
“I spent hours making manipulative plant books in which they could draw the four basic needs and remove and rebuild the parts of a plant,” she said. “When I introduced them, my students were thrilled and throughout the lesson I had several students come up to hug and tell me thank you for making the books. Some days it feels like everything is falling apart, but the students are always there to put everything back together. Knowing I can bring a child joy and comfort while simultaneously teaching them is the best part of the job.”
She credits the professors in the teacher education program at Ozarks for providing “a profound impact on my growth as an educator.”
“Dr. Doris Metz has shown me how to give to gift of reading; Mrs. Leanita Pelts how to differentiate for diverse students, and Dr. Sergio Molina how to design kinesthetic learning experiences,” Nelligan said. “While all professors work collaboratively to prepare us for the field, Mrs. Pam Smith has done a fantastic job showing us how to navigate the field humanistically. In our Internship I class, we read ‘There’s a Girl in the Boys Bathroom.’ This book and the discussions Mrs. Smith lead in pertinence to it show how big of an impact educators can make on their students if they are unbiased, continually encouraging, and relentlessly dedicated to a child’s success.”
The assistance from professors went far beyond the classroom.
“My professors have helped me immensely as I’ve interviewed for jobs — writing letters of recommendation, walking me through applications, and reviewing my resumes,” Nelligan said. “The program also prepares us by setting up ‘mock’ TEAC interviews in Internship I where we are interviewed by a panel of local administrators and teachers. That experience really made a difference in my ability to interview by breaking the ice and showing us what to expect.”
Nelligan, who has also been a standout on the women’s tennis team at Ozarks, said her four years at Ozarks has flown by.
“My Ozarks experience has been better than I ever could have imagined,” she said. “Nothing could replace the relationship I have built with my professors, peers, and God throughout my Ozarks experience.”
Topics: Elementary Education