Redwood’s Newest English Student Teacher: Mr. Douglas

By Elli Hendrickson

On Tuesday, September 14th, 2021 English teacher Mrs. Jurica was given a student-teacher: Mr. Douglas.

Mrs.Jurica and Mr.Douglas Photo credit: Elli Hendrickson

A student teacher is someone who is learning to become a teacher. They come and observe a class in the environment they will be teaching in and slowly start to take over the class.

Mr. Douglas spoke about his experience on his first day; “It went really well, the students are super chill, [he] got a feel for the classes, [and he is] getting a little bit of a feel for the curriculum.”

Mr. Douglas also spoke about his thoughts on Redwood saying, “it’s a beautiful campus, and the students are really chill. [They] have a lot of good senses of humor and that’s something [he] massively appreciate[s].”

Mr. Douglas attended Fresno State, and spoke about how he didn’t start out as a student teacher.

Before becoming a teacher, “for a little while [he] worked in retail. [He] also worked at a museum in Fresno called Kearney Mansion.”

During his time there, he “worked for the historical society, set up the civil war reenactment, and did weekly tours around the museum. All stuff [he] really enjoyed.”

Mr. Douglas admits that, “[he] always knew [he] had the goal of pursuing teaching”

Mr. Douglas ends with, “It’s a little early to tell but right now [he] like[s] it, [he] think[s] it’s pretty great here.”

Mrs. Jurica, the English teacher who is mentoring Mr. Douglas, spoke some words about Mr. Douglas and her perspective on having a new student teacher.

Mrs. Jurica feels that having a student teacher “is really great, [she’s] always wanted one”

She also added that “we need teachers in our profession, so I think it’s going to be awesome to mentor the teacher”

Mrs. Jurica also spoke to her students asking how they feel about having a student teacher and “they all said they really like him.”

“People have said we mesh well because he’s super energetic and I’m laid back, so our personalities work well together.”

Throughout this training, she hopes for Mr. Douglas “to be comfortable with lesson planning, building relationships with students and growing as a teacher.”