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a-b-c-d-e-f-g... h Teaching is simply about
impacting lives. It is part of a storied

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legacy. It is absolutely a moral
imperative unlike any other profession,

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we have greater opportunities to
fundamentally make the world a better

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place. I don't think every profession can
say that. It's so rewarding to see them

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kind of grow and learn how to write and
learn how to read. I can't really think

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of any other jobs that are as meaningful
as teaching, that leave like a lasting

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impression like teaching does. As a
teacher you have a larger responsibility

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because you're preparing them with the
tools that they need to be professional

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and to do work in our world so it's
actually a little bit more beneficial

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than just being in a cubicle all day.
Teaching is probably the most rewarding

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profession out there. Students remember
things that you do with them every

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single day and I think it's very
meaningful how we can empower our

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students. The most rewarding part is
being able to see when a student gets it

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in that moment, when it clicks, and you
just see it in their eyes and you see

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them being able to apply it and then
transfer it into a useful life skill.

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UIC has a commitment to urban education.
They have an understanding of how urban

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children learn and help their students
to understand that it's not just about

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going into a room and having a great
lesson plan it's going into a room and

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understanding the full concept of what
it means to work with children. You may

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have one class that may tell you a lot
about hands-on activities for the kids,

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you might have a class that focuses on
getting kids to talk. "What do you predict,

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LaJonna? Can you use it in a complete
sentence? Okay, that's a very good

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prediction." You may even have some
classes that focus on your atmosphere,

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how your room is supposed to look, so it's
various classes that you have that

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prepare you as a whole to be a teacher.
By attending UIC you are able to receive

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this urban-based education that allows
you to connect your students' learning

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with the realities in their lives.
Through my courses at UIC, my teaching

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experiences, I realize that you can't be
color blind when you go into the classroom, you

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have to understand a child's culture. In
my experience at UIC each professor

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really coached you, guided you through
being able to be successful in an

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environment that may be new to you. Many
of us didn't grow up in Chicago that go

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through the UIC program. There's only one
semester where you're not in the

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classroom two or more days a week, so
almost right away the expectation is

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that you are working with kids every day
as if you are a paid teacher. They placed

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me at this school that prepared me for
the reality of CPS, the reality of the

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classroom I'm in today. "What's your
opinion here? This is your opinion

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there's no right or wrong answer."
I still use so much of what I learned

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during that student teaching experience
today. Things I do today I learned

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directly from that mentor. UIC's professors
know the mentors in the classroom that

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you're working with, it's not like you're
going to a classroom where your mentor

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and your professor don't even know each
other. UIC spends time preparing those

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mentor-teachers. Most of them are UIC
graduates. The students that I went

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through the UIC College of Education
with, they were competitive, they were

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going for jobs, they wanted to impress, we
pushed each other, we argued, and I

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think we all came out better for it. The
UIC program had had a very clear track

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and the track was aimed almost directly
at Chicago Public Schools. They were

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equipping us with what we would need to
be able to be hired at the school. UIC

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has made you marketable. They make you
the desirable teacher to hire through

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their programming and their curriculum
in their instruction. "For volume and

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radius changes, talk about what's the
relationship between V prime and R

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prime." A lot of the UIC trained teachers
are getting hired. I know in our example

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here, I want UIC student teachers
here, and we have hired UIC student

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teachers. I know people that I was in my
cohort with are moving up to the math

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department chairs and assistant
principals and principals. UIC has a

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certain respect throughout administration.
When they say, "Okay you came from UIC, you

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must know what you're doing, you're on
top of your game, so we want you to join

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it's our family and our school.

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"Can anyone remember what I just stated
as to what we breathe out? Jeremiah?"

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Kids bring so much joy and they
have so many talents and it's our job

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and our duty to help them become leaders
and learners. I like the idea that you do

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things that affect people long-term and
that you can make a really big

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difference. It's so rewarding to to come
in and really impact a little person's

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life as well as their family. If the kid
says, "I'm proud that you were my teacher,

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and I will tell anyone that you are my
teacher," I think that's the greatest

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reward.

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