Student Voices - Undergraduate
Taylor Wall
Elementary Education, Teaching Fellows
Class of 2008
Durham, North Carolina
My background
I was accepted into the School’s Teaching Fellows Program, which provides me with a full-time scholarship throughout my four years of undergraduate study. Upon graduation from UNC-Chapel Hill, I will teach children in North Carolina schools for at least four years so that I may give back to my home state.
Why I chose the UNC School of Education
I experienced my first taste of teaching when I worked at a summer camp for young children when I was in high school. At times, I felt as if I were a performer on a stage and the children were my audience. I cherished the children’s enthusiasm, and I knew I wanted to pursue a career that would allow me to continue this kind of interaction. For this reason, the School of Education was an obvious choice, as it gives me the opportunity to do every day what I love most – working with children.
My experience
This past semester, I began student teaching at Club Boulevard Elementary School in Durham, a magnet school that focuses on the arts and humanities. Having grown up in Durham Public Schools, it’s been an enlightening experience to be on the teacher side of things rather than the student side. Every week, I return to the classroom and watch my students continue to grow individually. Like them, I too continue to progress and take on more responsibility, so I will be fully prepared to become a licensed educator next year.
Student life
My field placement experience has taught me important lessons about what it means to be an educator. The School prepares us mentally and emotionally to enter the classroom as student teachers for the first time during our senior year. But at the end of the day, we develop our skills by being a sponge and soaking in the real-world experience that comes with student teaching. People often say there are lessons that cannot be learned in a classroom. But for a prospective teacher, the classroom is the most important place to learn, whether that be here at Carolina or at a field placement site.
The future
I hope to become a classroom teacher next fall, following my graduation in May.