Student Teaching Reflections

Student Teaching Celebration/Banquet: Speech Notes

5/5/2025

Good evening! My name is Jacob Link, and I am a Secondary English Education major. My student teaching placements were at Cleveland Middle School and Walker Valley High School. First of all, I want to congratulate everyone on making it to this milestone—we’ve finished our coursework, we’ve passed edTPA, we’ve applied for licensure, and now we only have 1 day left of student teaching. We made it!!

This semester has been a whirlwind of experiences and emotions. I’ve had the joy of seeing students’ “lightbulb” moments in the classroom—one of my key motivators into entering this profession. At my high school placement, my students were close-reading “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, and as I circled for small group check-ins of annotations, one group in particular blew me away. They started pulling out biblical allusions and symbolism which made my English major heart so happy; so much so that I started crying tears of joy in class and made my CT come over to hear their deep analyses. They told me that this was the first time they had ever connected to a text in such a profound way that they wanted to keep reading to the end to find out what happened, but I made them keep their books at school to wait to find out until the next day. This shows just how important a good hook and student autonomy has on getting students to have a buy-in to your lesson.

Prior to my student teaching experiences, I think a lot of what I envisioned the classroom would be like was informed from either my own experiences as a student or stories from other teachers. I was really excited to begin this semester where I would be fully immersed in school culture and classroom management from the teacher’s POV. A special shout out to Mrs. Wright & Mrs. Gober for being the BEST CTs I could have asked for. They taught me so much about building relationships, having patience, being flexible, and pivoting moment to moment. I’m grateful for how they handed over the reins and allowed me to add my creative flair to lessons and implement fun projects.

Nothing—and I mean nothing—prepares you for teaching more than being “in the trenches” teaching a classroom full of 30 rambunctious, culturally diverse, TikTok-influenced students. I only have 5 minutes, so let me run through some of my takeaway moments from this experience. Nothing prepares you for when your middle school CT has an emergency meeting on the first day of methods and the sub says, “It’s okay, you know what you’re doing,” even though you really don’t but you just learn on your feet. Nothing prepares you for learning 100 new names and faces. Nothing prepares you for fixing paper jams. Note to self, don’t queue 1000 pages on the mailroom copier in the middle of the day. Sorry CMS staff. Nothing prepares you for the moments when you overhear conversations in the hallway you wish you didn’t. Nothing prepares you for the sweet moments when your class is wrestling with what it means to be a good human in their examination of horrible atrocities from history. Nothing prepares you for lesson pacing when you love to yap & discuss the deeper meaning with your students, although I’ve had a great supervisor who has helped me on that one (shout out Mrs. Gilbert). Nothing prepares you for when you’re teaching a lesson on author’s purpose with the whole class engaged and then you see a cockroach on the ground, so without thinking, you scream, “There’s a cockroach,” and all the middle schoolers go wild. Nothing prepares you for differentiating a mixed class of high honors and special education students. Nothing prepares you for when students randomly ask if you would date your CT. Nothing prepares you for when your CT volun-tells you to call home to a parent entirely in Spanish without warning during your first week of student teaching. Nothing prepares you for when students gaslight you like when they say they weren’t talking but you were looking right at them and their mouth was moving—especially when they’re on camera during your edTPA recording. Nothing prepares you for when you’re introducing an activity of school stereotypes, and your students write “Mr. Link” in the nerd category. Nothing prepares you for the relational depth you’ll have when you implement fun and creative assignments, giving students the opportunity to share parts of their story or things that make them smile. Nothing prepares you for when your computer factory resets at 8am. Nothing prepares you for battling AirPods and smartphones in high school. Nothing prepares you for facilitating your first classroom debate—The Great Debate as we called it. Nothing prepares you for when you lose your balance, trip over a stool, get twisted up in some cords, only to catch yourself on the wall while students are silently working, and your CT starts laughing hysterically. And nothing prepares you for when you build deep bonds with students—growing in the learning process, sharing stories, and having fun in the classroom—only to have to say goodbye and entrust them into the hands of the next teacher.

This semester has been such a great experience overall. It’s had its share of challenges, learning curves, and moments of imposter syndrome, but I’m leaving this experience with so much gratitude for all I’ve learned and more confidence in who I am as a teacher and as a child of God. I can confidently say after a semester of teaching that this is exactly where I have been called to be and that my classroom will be a place that welcomes community and radiates the love of Jesus! I can’t wait to welcome my 6th graders at Tyner Academy in August & to see where all of us end up! Thank you!!

Some glimpses into my student teaching semester!

My Semester in the classroom: Stories from the Field

I am endlessly grateful for all of the support I have received throughout my entire program at Lee. My profs have been nothing but encouraging as they taught me and guiding me towards my student teaching semester. While I struggled to find the purpose of some of the program's organization as I went through it, I now see how many of these choices were made to make me prepared for the worst while expecting the best. When I first received my methods placement last July, I was quite frustrated that I had to teach middle school because I knew for certain that I was going to teach high school. Well the Lord definitely knew what He was doing, because here I am getting ready to move to TN to become a middle school teacher. I quickly grew to love my 8th graders that I student taught and all of the quirkiness of their age group. I was blessed to have 2 wonderful cooperating teachers- Mrs. Wright for 8th grade at Cleveland Middle School and Mrs. Gober for 11th grade at Walker Valley High School. They both taught me so much and gave me so much freedom in how I taught and organized lessons. I had a lot of fun in creating some fun projects and alternative ways of getting across information that would connect with my students. Below are some of the creative projects I implemented. My favorite was probably the creative visual responses where students had to develop a picture that symbolized the contrast of death and life in Emily Dickinson's poetry. Students connect in a way with their analysis and in their conversations of the drawings that they didn't get just from reading the poem.

Mr. Link's Classroom Activities

• Group Work

• Stations

• Intentional Questioning

• Creative Responses

• Textual Analyses

• Socratic Seminars

• Debates

I am proud to say that I graduated with Magna Cum Laude (high honors) from Lee University with my BA in English Education on May 10th, 2025. I'm so blessed for all that I learned and all of the relationships I've made along the way. One final hoorah to commemorate the most formative & meaningful 3 years at Lee! I’m so blessed to have spent the bulk of my undergrad on a campus that put Christ first, guided me to my calling, & put me in a strong, Christ-centered community! I won’t soon forget how my time in these classrooms & profs’ offices shaped my understanding of literature & deepened my view of God’s grace & goodness! Thank you Lee & the Language & Literature Department for training my mind, leading my heart, and comforting my soul!!

As my final semester came to a close, there were a few occasions for academic recognition. I was selected to participate in honors chapel at Lee alongside of my peers on stage who were also selected for awards. I was recognized for my membership in Kappa Delta Pi (Education Honor Society), graduating with academic honors, and for receiving a departmental award. At the Language and Literature department picnic, I enjoyed seeing my fellow English majors and catching up from my semester in the classroom. I was nominated and chosen to be awarded the Jean Eledge Outstanding Future Educator award. Dr. Ren- my writing prof- nominated me as a result of my use and joy for writing conferences with students. Finally, I was selected to be one of three student teachers to offer a short speech at the Student Teaching Celebration/Banquet about my overall experience in the classroom. I was honored to have been selected and am grateful for how gracious my peers were at laughing at my jokes, humoring my stories, sharing in the joy and gratitude of our experience, and giving me a minute-long standing ovation. Below is a transcript of the speech I gave. Enjoy!

Back to middle school I go!! I’m super excited to announce that I have accepted a job as a 6th grade English-Language Arts teacher at Tyner Middle High Academy (a neighborhood, inner-city magnet school) in Chattanooga, TN! I’m grateful for everything that has led me to this point—a wonderful undergrad program & student teaching experience, a supportive & encouraging community, and a clear path for the future from the Lord. I’m expectant for all the Lord has in store for me & all the students I’ll impact in this role. I’m blessed to be a third generation teacher & to be the next Mr. Link!! Pretty cool ow God works things out and changes the plans you initially have for your life! Here the adventure begins!!