Future Teachers Have A Knack With Kids: Turned On By Teaching
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- By Anne Waukau
- WEAC Media Consultant
The future of Wisconsin’s public schools is in great hands with
Student WEA members like Mary Kadrich and Carrie Slock who are preparing
to enter the teaching profession in a matter of months.
According to Good Hope Elementary School teachers Dick Best and Carol
Martin, Kadrich and Slock — who just completed three months of student
teaching — have special talents to share with kids.
“Mary is very creative and has great ideas in getting the kids excited
to learn,” said Martin, a 31-year veteran at the Glendale school.
“She has that knack with kids and they love her. I don’t think
I’ve ever had a student teacher like her. She also has experience
with learning-disabled children and as a result she’s got a lot of
techniques that most students don’t have.”
Best also heaped praise on Slock as a future teacher.
“Carrie is committed to the kids. She enjoys teaching and she’s
good at it,” said Best, who has taught at Good Hope for 25 years.
Kadrich and Slock spent more than 40 hours a week teaching without pay
and also worked as many hours as they could outside the classroom to earn
money for their college tuition.
Although they were often tired at the start of each school day, they
were happy and excited to get back to their 5th graders at Good Hope.
Both credited their mentors with instilling them with enthusiasm and
love of teaching.
“Carol is by far one of the greatest teachers I’ve ever worked
with,” said Kadrich, who will graduate from Cardinal Stritch College
in December. “It was the best experience I could have ever imagined.
“I’m excited to get into the classroom. I can’t see myself
being fulfilled in any other way. It was the student teaching that made
me feel that way,” Kadrich said.
She hopes to take her enthusiasm to Fox Point, where she has applied
for a teaching position.
“There is so much diversity and so many children with special needs,
and anyone going into education has to be completely willing to successfully
work with each child.”
Slock, who will graduate from Mount Mary College in May, echoed Kadrich’s
sentiments. “I want to see the children succeed and have fun and
have a good life,” she said.
She credited Best with helping her grow as a teacher.
“It’s been awesome working with Dick because he is such a wealth
of knowledge,” Slock said. “I received the biggest compensation
in what I took away from the experience.”
Kadrich and Slock are now student teaching in other schools, and Martin
and Best will soon be working with other future teachers.
“I want the people who go into teaching to love it as much as I
do,” Martin said.
“It’s important for these students to see that teaching is
a profession and not a job,” Best said.
Posted November 20, 1996