More than meets the eye
Middle school students, beware! That random girl eavesdropping on your conversation may show up behind the teacher's desk in your language arts class after lunch. She may look young, but in reality, Linda Kroger is a college graduate and seventh-grade language arts teacher at Wiley Middle School in North Carolina. Of course, Linda's life isn't all eavesdropping and shocking poor middle-schoolers. Read on to find out how this teacher got where she is today.
Foreign focus
Linda had a unique student teaching experience in Wiesbaden, Germany, where she taught high school language arts at Defense Department schools. "Being isolated from my friends and family as I student-taught abroad enabled me to focus on student teaching more," says Linda. "And living with a dozen other student teachers from Miami in Germany gave us all constant encouragement and a sounding board for our ideas."
Legacy of leading
Linda's leadership at Miami grew by leaps and bounds thanks to Dr. Frager, a teacher education professor. She remembers that one day as he passed back papers in class, he encouraged her to speak up more. "Through that small comment, Dr. Frager gave me the nudge to begin acting as a leader at Miami, as a graduate student several years later, and as a full-time teacher," says Linda. Dr. Frager was also instrumental in getting a paper Linda wrote as an undergraduate published in the prestigious Balanced Reading Instruction magazine.
Academic application
Student teaching is something all Miami education majors do, but Linda went beyond the requirement by helping weekly with a first-grade class at the local elementary school and working individually with a fifth-grader who was frustrated with reading. "Although this experience was a challenge," Linda says, "it was great preparation for the present, where I work daily with students who are non-risk-takers in their reading."
A little advice for furture teachers
"Even if you only have a little interest in teaching, talk with other teachers in various stages of their career."
