This is my first year at New Heights School and my first year as a teacher anywhere. I have wanted to be a teacher as long as I can remember and feel very lucky to have gotten a job right out of college. I also feel lucky to be working at such a great school, not only do I have a lot of great colleagues, but the students I have had the chance to meet are wonderful.

Education

As I stated I just recently graduated from college where I got my Bachelor’s of Applied Science from The University of Minnesota – Duluth. Where I was going to college and what I was going to do there was never a question for me. I went to Duluth once when I was younger fell in love with the scenery and decided I would live there someday; so when it came time for college I didn’t even apply to any other school. Teaching was never a question for me either, I went in knowing my degree was going to me Teaching Mathematics and never even thought twice about it. To this day I don’t question either of those decisions. I do someday plan to further my education, as I love learning how students learn, but for right now I just plan to teach.

Teaching Background

While this is my first job as a teacher, it is not my first experience teaching. Throughout the education program in Duluth I had many opportunities to teach in many different situations, from a small catholic school on the east side of Duluth, to an international school all they way over in Ljubljana, Slovenia. My first teaching experience was in a technology classroom (I also have a technology certificate from The University of Minnesota – Duluth) at Holy Rosary in Duluth. I was teaching 7th graders and found out very quickly that I would need to make the curriculum more challenging because a lot of the students were already very good with technology. My second teaching experience was at Morgan Park Middle School on the west side of Duluth (opposite of Holy Rosary), and what I learned there is that no matter the background of the child they can all learn, it just might be in a different way. Next, was Central High School in Duluth where I had to learn how to gain respect from students who were not much younger than me. Finally, I had my two student teaching experiences, the first at Two Harbors Middle/High School were I learned a lot about classroom control and management, and the second at an international school in Ljubljana, Slovenia (Danile Kumar). Danile Kumar was such a great experience I learned so much about culture and what it takes to teach students from so many different backgrounds. The students at Danile Kumar were from more than 40 different countries around the world. Each teaching experience taught me so many different things about teaching, and just made me love even more the career I have chosen for myself.

Interests

Something I am the most interested in is Travel, and my experience abroad as only made me more interested; I’ve got the travel bug. I’ve been traveling ever since I was born. I’ve made it to more than 10 states of the U.S. and over 10 countries now as well. There are a few of those that I don’t remember, specifically all of the ones I went to before I turned five, but each experience that I do remember has only made me want to travel more.

Another interest of mine is food. I love learning new recipes, making them, and then trying them out. Having such an interest in food can be dangerous when also having an interest in traveling, because so many countries have so many good and interesting foods.

Finally, my last interest that I am going to share is art. Not so much learning about art, but creating it. Outside of a bunch of math classes in high school, I took every art class that I could. Making things with clay, and painting and drawing. I loved creating things, which could be part of why I like food and cooking as well. I like to create.

MWieker@newheightsschool.org