Nicole Cordle

 

1. What is your educational background and what positions have you held?

I graduated from Slippery Rock University’s College of Education with a degree in Early Childhood Education and Special Education. While attending college I worked at a daycare in my hometown, Toddler Town USA, while on breaks and during the summer. I also worked at the SRU/SGA Preschool and Childcare Center on campus. These were both great opportunities and I learned so much while working at both of these wonderful places! I am currently working at Coventry Elementary School with the York County School Division in York County Virginia as a Special Education Teacher. I love my job and my students and couldn’t ask for a better job!

2. What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Being a first year teacher can be challenging, but the most rewarding aspect of my job is my students. I have gotten to know the students on my caseload so well over this school year. I love seeing the “aha” moment when they are finally grasping a new concept. I love having the ability to work with not only the students on my caseload but also the students in all 3 of the inclusion classrooms I get to be a part of. My colleagues are so helpful and I have a wonderful mentor helping me with all the things teaching carries with it. It is so rewarding to make such an impact on my students lives. They put a smile on my face every single day and I love that I am able to do the same for them.

3. What advice would you give to current students who are enrolled in the teacher preparation program, and to SRU students generally?

The advice I would give to current students in a teacher preparation program is to get as many experiences as you can. You can learn and memorize things from a book, which is important as well, but a book can not prepare you for real-life teaching. I was lucky enough to not only have the experiences Slippery Rock provided me with, but also I took experience into my own hands and chose to work at places that could offer me even more. College isn’t easy, but in the end it is all worth it. Enjoy your time in college because it goes so much faster than you realize.

4. Name an SRU experience or faculty that had a positive influence on you and explain why.

While attending Slippery Rock Universtiy, I had the opportunity to have many influential proffesors that ensured I was well prepared for my future career. There are a few that stand out in my mind. One of them being Dr. Eric Bieniek, he was not only my student teaching supervisor but I had the opportunity to have him as a professor for class. Dr. Bieniek taught me so many things and shared so much useful information that I honestly still use to this day. I saved his powerpoints and projects and use them as resources and references in my current position. I cannot thank him enough for all of the knowledge he provided me with. Another professor that stands out in my mind is Dr. Michelle McCollin. Her classes weren’t easy, but in the end she taught me so much and I thoroughly enjoyed going to her classes. She once said to us, “go where you’re needed, not where you want to go” and to this day I think about what she meant by this. She wanted us, because she knew SRU prepared us so well, to go where there are students that needed us. You can get caught up and want to work in the best and most prestigious schools, but in the end, the students that need us most may not be at those schools. Something else that she taught us was to ADVOCATE. Advocate for your students. Stand up for them. Be there for them, be their voice. And I’ll never forget what a wonderful professor she was and how much she taught me. 

5. What makes a great teacher?

A great teacher cannot be defined as one or two things. A great teacher is a multitude of things. A great teacher does anything and everything in their power for their students. A great teacher collaborates, a great teacher learns along side their students, a great teacher perseveres and a great teacher puts a smile on their face every single day and leaves all their problems outside the school, regardless of what’s happening in their personal lives for their students. We do it for them.