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Elise Guimont
Major: Psychology
Year of Graduation: 2008
Graduate School: University of North Carolina-Charlotte (currently enrolled)
Current Job Title: Teach For America Corps Member (7th grade science teacher), Charlotte, NC
Please give a brief description of your current position:
I am pursuing a two year commitment with Teach For America. I was placed in the Charlotte, NC region, teaching 7th grade science at James Martin Middle School. I am hired through the district and am taking graduate school coursework at UNCC. The graduate school courses are required from the district and Teach For America. I teach 7th grade general science to 178 students at James Martin. James Martin is termed a priority school that has low test scores on reading, writing, math, and science. The demographics of the school are approximately 80% African American, 10% Latino, 5% White and/or other.
What path did you follow to arrive at your current job?
I followed the pre-medicine route throughout college. I intended to apply to medical schools, but felt I needed more experience before applying to medical school.
What advice/suggestions would you have for students who might be interested in your career?
My advice and suggestions for those that may be interested in Teach For America would be to diversify your academic experience. By immersing yourself in athletics, study abroad, and volunteer experiences, it will allow you to get outside of your comfort zone.
What skills are important in your field?
Skills that I've found to be important to this job are a strong sense of perseverance, positive attitude, organizational skills, time management skills, and open-mindedness. Every day you are unsure of how your lessons are going to go despite planning everything out. The students ultimately make or break the lesson and how much they understand the material. By being open-minded to changing the lesson and how things should go is very important. Also, this job is very difficult and I think a mindset of positivity and perseverance is crucial to maintaining focus on the mission of Teach For America.
What is the most satisfying/rewarding part of your job? Most challenging?
The most satisfying/rewarding part of my job is having the opportunity to see children learn. To have the opportunity to teach and see the changes in who they are becoming is fascinating and amazing. The most challenging part of my job is to maintain positive despite the kids' bad days, the negative attitudes, and disrespectful atmosphere of teenagers.
What activities/experiences were helpful at CSB/SJU (and elsewhere) in preparation for this career?
My study abroad experience in Australia was very helpful, along with my coursework, volunteer experiences in VISTO Special Olympics, and athletics. I found every experience that involved teamwork, cultural immersion, perseverance, and helping others, to be very helpful in preparation for Teach For America.