Shelby Searight

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

I went to Slippery Rock for 4 years and dual majored in Early Childhood and Special Education. I have been a teacher for three years. My first year teaching, I taught 5-6 special education in a resource/pullout setting. My second year I switched over to teaching kindergarten and loved it! This third year has been crazy because of COVID and I was pulled from my kindergarten position and put back in my old position for 6 months. Now that everything is starting to be “a little” normal again, I have been switched back to teaching kindergarten. I teach at Meridian Elementary School in Mesa, AZ as part of the Gilbert Public School District. 

 

2. Name one SRU experience, in general or specific to the field, that you will never forget and explain why.

One SRU experience that I will never forget is when I met my friend, Katie. We both lived in building F our first semester at the university. We were farthest away from all the other students and it probably made it a little harder to meet new people. I am such a friendly and energetic person, that I have no problem making new friends whatsoever, but hadn't exactly found that one person that I knew was going to be my friend for life. There are so many different personalities at SRU and so many friend groups to choose from... so I just want to let everyone know who is currently going or will be attending SRU that if you haven't met some good friends yet, that you will. I have not talked to a single person who has gone there that stated "I can't seem to click with anyone" or "it's so hard to meet new friends". Everyone on campus is so friendly and I love that everyone is supposed to say "hi" to each other as they walk past you on campus! It is truly such a good quality for a campus to have!

 

3. Name an SRU faculty that had a positive influence on you and explain why.

Dr. Terry Vetere made such a positive impact on my life and school career! I was going through some major changes my senior year and was starting to really struggle with balancing work and school work. She allowed me to talk to her a few times and helped me stay positive through the entire process, always giving me a second chance and doing whatever she could to keep me motivated to finish. I have always been such an understanding person and she was someone that had that in common with me. I would like to thank her for everything she did for the students there and hope that everyone has someone in their life that just tries to understand where they are coming from and what they are going through. 

 

4. What initially peaked your interest in pursuing a degree in education?

I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. All growing up I heard nothing but positive feedback from people who went there, or honestly even people who hadn’t gone there. They boasted about the university and their education program being one of the best in the state! I visited the campus and fell in love with it instantly. Since I am from a small town, going to Slippery Rock felt so comforting to me, but also the perfect amount of growth. The town is so homey and sort of secluded, so you kind of feel like you’re in your own little world. 

 

5. What do you love most about teaching?

My favorite part of teaching is being able to see the growth in students from the beginning of the year to how they leave your class at the end of the year. Being able to restart in the new year and remember what kindergarteners are like at the beginning of the year is somewhat of an eye opener to how much we actually teach throughout the year. You will have some students that make you put your all into it just to get them to progress a little, and the majority of the time it becomes all worth it one day when "little johnny" couldn't even tell you what sound the letter "a" makes and the next, you turn around and he is tapping out 4 letter words. So, to answer the question, I love the personal reward the most in teaching. Some other jobs don't get to see their hard work payoff, but there is no question of that in teaching! 

 

6. What makes a great teacher?

A great teacher is somebody who can show their students that it is absolutely okay to be wrong. As a kinder teacher, I see students who are shy about answering questions because they are scared they will be wrong. I love being able to show them that I get things wrong all the time and they are in shock that an adult like me can even be wrong about something. I tell them as often as I can that when they are unsure of something, it is one of my favorite things because then it allows me to do the thing I love the most... TEACH THEM! I think a good teacher is also able to instill persistence in their students. My first year teaching kindergarten, I played a song for my students called "Rainbow" by Kacey Musgraves. The song lyrics say, 

 

But you're stuck out in the same ol' storm again

You hold tight to your umbrella

Well, darlin', I'm just tryin' to tell ya

That there's always been a rainbow hangin' over your head

 

I tell my students that when they are struggling with something, it is like being stuck in a storm and they may feel like they can't get through it, but as long as they hold onto their umbrella and keep pushing through, it’ll be okay. I tell them that I am like their umbrella and am there to help them figure out how to get out of the storm. When they finally do, it is like an "aha moment", sort of like they finally figured out how to do a certain skill and that is the rainbow that I see in them all the time because I know that they are capable of figuring out how to do it.