Amanda Daly, '08

I am currently a mathematics teacher at Abington Junior High School for eighth grade students taking Pre-Algebra or Honors Algebra I. I am also the director of the school's musicals. When I attended SJU, we were to give our top three districts we were interested in student teaching at. Because I knew I wanted to pursue a full-time teaching position in the Philadelphia suburbs (where I grew up and planned on moving after graduation), I chose districts that were similar to my desired full-time position. By doing this, I was able to gain a better understanding of the dynamic the district had to offer. I could get a feel for the types of students, neighborhood, strengths/weaknesses of the district, etc. in order to better prepare myself for my full-time position.

I dropped off my resume in person to the Human Resources Department at Abington School District even though they notified me that there were no positions open and that they were not taking resumes. I received a call for an interview a week or so later.

For an SJU student looking for a job in the field of education in the Philadelphia/Philadelphia suburban area, I suggest being proactive and choosing a student teaching district that is either where you would like to teach or similar in characteristics to the district in which you would like to teach. This will truly prepare you for what lies ahead. If a student is not from the area, I suggest they do their research so that they can choose a district similar to one they have in their hometown area where they plan on teaching.

Also, if a student is preparing to major or minor in education, they should prepare for this as soon as possible and declare their major during their Freshman year. I wish during my Freshman year, someone recommended that I pursue a dual major in Mathematics and Secondary Education rather than a major in Mathematics and a minor in Secondary Education. I feel I would have benefited from more education-based courses that taught me HOW to teach the content versus the philosophy behind educational practices. Theory is wonderful, but gaining the knowledge of HOW to teach a particular subject (i.e. a course that took algebra concepts and had a professor demonstrate lessons for a high schooler) would be much more beneficial than learning higher level abstract mathematical concepts.