This academic year, seven student teachers joined Lincoln’s classrooms from various universities around Portland, including University of Portland (UP), Portland State University (PSU) and Lewis and Clark College.
Hannah Taylor, art teacher Hope Fern’s student teacher, was drawn to education as a way to pursue her passions for community and artistic expression, especially in painting and drawing.
“I love the fine arts a whole lot, and I’m very passionate about art being a way to express ourselves and interact with the world. I’m also really passionate about community building,” said Taylor. “So art education was a good way to merge the two.”
Fern, as lead teacher, immediately made a positive impression on Taylor, which ultimately improved her experience in the classroom.
“My relationship with my mentor teacher Hope is amazing. They’re a fantastic teacher, and a fantastic person, and a fantastic artist and someone I admire very much,” said Taylor. “[Teacher Beth Bundy] connected Hope and I, and once we met, I knew pretty quickly it’d be a good fit.”
Eric Benedon, Intro to Education and history teacher Blair Hennessy’s student teacher, has a bachelor’s degree in Art History from University of British Columbia, a master’s in sustainability education from PSU and now holds a teaching certification from UP. He attributes his career success to his coworkers’ support throughout the year.
“It’s been a cool feeling, as a student teacher, [to be] so welcomed by [the other teachers] and getting advice and getting a sense of community,” said Benedon.
Benedon follows a person-first, student-second pedagogy, which has worked in harmony with his mentor teacher’s approach to education.
“Part of my philosophy and what Ms. Hennessy has taught me and what’s been reaffirmed working with students is if you don’t care about your students, they’re not gonna care about what you’re teaching,” said Benedon.
Benedon appreciates his students’ patience.
“I’m really grateful for the students that have trusted me. I’m sure there have been so many moments where I’m in front of the class and they’re probably like, ‘Ok, this person doesn’t really know what they’re doing,’ [but] I always feel like the students have been there with me and wanted me to succeed in the same way I want them to succeed,” said Benedon. “It’s been really cool how much students have been part of that [student teaching] journey for me.”
