I discovered teaching was for me when I took an “introduction to education” course in college, just because I was curious. I was assigned to observe an 8th grade American History class. The teacher asked me to teach a lesson on Revolutionary War battles one day, which proved to be an exciting challenge. The students read at such a low level that I had to abandon teaching techniques I was familiar with-read, discuss, write. Instead, I designed an immersive, experiential walk-through of the battlefields. It was not a great lesson, but the experience convinced me that teaching was as intellectually challenging as anything I could do. I had to understand how young adolescents learn and apply what I knew to the specific students in that class. Exhilarating! I have since found that teaching is equally challenging on emotional, social, and spiritual levels.
– Jared Stallones, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
UK College of Education Department of Curriculum and Instruction