John always knew he wanted to be a teacher. Seeing so many people in his family thrive as educators made him fall in love with the profession at an early age and in college, he chose to study secondary education. While he wasn’t sure exactly the route he wanted to take to teaching, serving through Math Corps ultimately led him to a better path to teaching than he could have expected.
Starting His Service
While in college, John’s mother suggested he check out Math Corps. The opportunity seemed promising for an aspiring educator, especially one who was still trying to figure out how he could make the greatest impact as a future teacher. He signed up and found serving as a Math Tutor to be a rewarding and eye-opening experience. The first thing he realized was imagining working with students and actually supporting them are often very different!
“I was tutoring fourth and fifth graders, and I realized I was a lot better with early math—addition, subtraction, multiplication—than with older students,” he says.
The experience he had with early elementary students guided him to consider his strengths as well as visualize the specifics of his career. He realized his passion for teaching aligned more with younger students than older ones and settled on elementary education as his career path.
Getting Experience, Education, and a License
It was also through Math Corps that he first heard about Minnesota Grow Your Own Teacher, or MNGOT for short. The program is a special partnership that offers tutors an affordable pathway to becoming a licensed K-6 teacher. Tutors accepted into the program combine two years of AmeriCorps service with a master’s in education at the University of Minnesota. For John, it was exactly what he needed: a direct route to becoming a teacher exactly for the ages he knew he worked best with.
Unlike traditional teacher preparation programs that provide only a semester of student teaching, MNGOT gave John two full years of hands-on experience. Those countless extra hours supporting students prepared him for the realities of teaching. Not just the curriculum, but the classroom dynamics, the challenges, and how to build strong relationships with students.
“Being in a school for two years gives you more of an idea of what teaching is really like. Some programs only give you 16 weeks, then you get your license and get thrown into the deep end,” says John. “But with MNGOT, you see the kids from the start of the year to the end. You build relationships, you learn classroom management, and you see how students grow over time.”
Another unique benefit of MNGOT for John was that the two years of tutoring was through Reading Corps, not Math Corps like he had done before. It was a game changer. Having experience in both literacy and math instruction gave him a well-rounded skill set to help the students in his class. Combined with the depth of preparation from student teaching, MNGOT gave him a strong sense of both the challenges he would face as a teacher and how to overcome them.
Beginning the Career He Always Wanted
After finishing MNGOT and graduating with his master’s in May 2023, John secured a teaching position at kindergarten-eighth grade school in Woodbury, MN, where he now teaches second grade! MNGOT was more than just an alternative route to teaching for John; it was the best possible preparation he could have had for his career.
“Second grade is great because the kids are eager to learn,” he says through a smile. “They want to be in school, and that makes teaching so much more rewarding.”
Now in his second year as a full-time teacher, John is grateful for the foundation MNGOT provided. He hopes more tutors take advantage of the program to kickstart their careers.
“If you already have your undergrad and you want to be a teacher, absolutely do it,” he says. “The two years of hands-on experience make a world of difference!”
You too, can make a difference for students while getting valuable educational experience! Find openings for Math and Reading Tutors new you at join.readingandmath.org.