Future of educating teachers Part 4: Life for teachers after graduation

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Editor’s Note: This is the last article in a four-part series about the future of teaching.

The job market for teachers may have taken a downturn in recent years, but that has not discouraged some seniors and alumni from pursuing careers as educators.

Stephanie Glowacki graduated from Central Michigan University in 2011 and now teaches third grade at Sacred Heart Academy in Mount Pleasant. She said she decided to stay in Michigan because she wanted to be near her family.

“That was my biggest concern,” she said.

Glowacki said her backup plan was to be a substitute teacher until she found a job, and if she had not found a job after a couple years, she would have moved out of Michigan. She said she was nervous about finding a job in-state after graduation, so she set up multiple job interviews.

“That’s what I wanted to do, so I just kept looking,” she said.

Right before her third interview in July, Glowacki received a phone call with a job offer. She said she was glad to have a job near her home because she loves the area.

“I think Michigan has a lot to offer,” she said.

Nicole Samuilow graduated from CMU in December 2008 and is now teaching kindergarten in West Bloomfield.

Samuilow said after she student-taught, she was hired at the same school the next fall. She said the school ended up needing another kindergarten teacher, and she received a phone call with a job offer two weeks before the school year started in 2009.

“It wasn’t really a consideration to go elsewhere,” she said. “I was in the right place at the right time.”

Samuilow said she graduated when people were beginning to worry about teaching jobs in Michigan, so she had a lot of friends who had to go out of state to find jobs in education. She said she believes fewer students are going into teaching because of pay cuts in school districts, and because teaching is a lot of work for not a lot of pay.

“I think it’s much worse now,” she said.

Student Teaching

Some teacher education students at CMU hope their experiences student-teaching will prepare them to establish their careers as they approach graduation.

Crystal Falls senior Tyler Morkin is student-teaching French at Mount Pleasant High School. Morkin said in an email he plans to look for employment in Michigan after he graduates in December, but he ultimately plans to move out of state.

His reasons for moving have more to do with the climate than anything else, but the school budget challenges and recent funding cuts to public education do not seem positive for teachers, he said.

“This is unfortunately a problem in most states nationwide, however, so it’s not like I’d be able to dodge the bullet just by leaving Michigan,” he said.

Morkin said he is not worried about employment because he is the coordinator for Learning Management Systems Instructional Support at CMU, but he would be “terrified” if he were unemployed.

“December is an especially challenging time for teacher education graduates as very few schools hire teachers in the middle of the school year,” he said. “And if they do, it’s typically for a temporary position of some kind.”

Morkin said student teaching has given him authentic classroom experience. It’s easy to give a mock lesson in a teaching methods class to a group of future teachers who are attentively engaged, he said, but as a student teacher he can discover what works and what doesn’t. He said he believes it is important for teacher education graduates looking for jobs to have enthusiasm and show they care about the students they will be teaching.

Ann Arbor senior Amy Binder is student-teaching fifth grade at Renaissance Public School Academy in Mount Pleasant and will also graduate in December. She said she will probably stay in the Mount Pleasant area next semester, but she isn’t sure where she will go after that.

She said there are opportunities for teacher education graduates in Michigan, but she would like to teach elsewhere while she is young and has the energy to travel.

“At this point in time, I think it would be good for me to move out of state,” she said.

Binder said she is concerned about finding a job because teaching is a competitive skill and there are limited teaching positions. She said all of the teacher education students at CMU have good test scores and GPAs, but interviewing skills are what will make graduates marketable.

Binder said she has gained new responsibilities teaching social studies and reading throughout the semester, and in a couple weeks she will have the whole class to herself. She said student teaching has been her biggest learning experience because she has had the opportunity to get in the classroom and help students.

“With student teaching, you’re thrown in there for eight hours a day, constantly, every day,” she said. “There’s nothing else that can really prepare you for that other than just jumping in there and doing it.”