“I always wanted to do something to help people and have a direct impact,” says Michelle Gonzalez, a senior in the Child Learning and Development program at UT Dallas and a teacher certification candidate with the university’s Teacher Development Center (TDC). Still, Michelle didn’t always want to be a teacher. “I wanted to be a dentist,” she says. “Then I took AP Biology and decided not to do that.”
Michelle, a Dallas-area native whose parents emigrated from Colombia, looked to family tradition for inspiration when choosing her major. “My dad’s a teacher, my grandma is an educator… There’s a long family history of educators,” she explains. Her father, a former electrical engineer who pursued alternative certification, now teaches dual-language math and science to fourth graders in Dallas. His example clearly made an impact on Michelle, who decided to pursue teaching as a career.
She calls the process of combining certification with her degree “seamless,” adding that she was able to use the education courses required for the certification to fill in upper-level elective hours. “My degree and the program really meshed well together,” she says. Fortunately for Michelle and other students on a similar path, the TDC had an existing degree plan combining the BS in Child Learning and Development with Early Childhood through 6th Grade (EC-6) certification.
“My degree and the program really meshed well together.”
michelle gonzalez
Michelle was also able to use student teaching – a requirement for certification – as an internship credit for her degree. “I got accepted into the residency program. With my scholarship, I was limited to Dallas ISD or Garland ISD, so I’m going to be student teaching with Garland ISD.” Michelle was placed in a school teaching third grade English Language Arts (ELAR), which she says will be challenging but useful for an aspiring STEM teacher.
Contemplating her upcoming student teaching residency, Michelle is excited for the opportunity to get hands-on experience preparing students for crucial standardized testing. “Third grade is the first STAAR test year, so honestly this is the perfect setting for me to learn from an experienced teacher. If I got hired right out of college and they said, ‘Okay, teach third grade ELAR!’ I’d be like, ‘How do I teach a kid how to take a standardized test?’ So, it’ll be really great for me to learn.”
Ideally, Michelle says, she can turn her student teaching residency with GISD into her first post-graduate job. “The TDC would say this is a year-long interview. I’m interviewing them to make sure I like the district and to see how they run things, what their curriculum is like… But they’re also trying to see how I fit into their family.”
When she graduated from high school, Michelle’s high class ranking and SAT score meant she had plenty of options. “I wanted to go to college close to home, out of ease and because it would be better financially.” When UTD offered her a full-tuition scholarship, her choice was made. Though the financial impact of the scholarship influenced her decision, she says UTD’s reputation as a research-focused school made it the perfect choice for her. “I wanted to do a research-based degree,” she says.
“Honestly, this is the perfect setting for me to learn from an experienced teacher… The TDC would say this is a year-long interview. I’m interviewing them to make sure I like the district and to see how they run things, what their curriculum is like.”
michelle on student teaching
Last year, Michelle applied for and won a scholarship from Dallas Teaching Scholars, a partnership between UT Dallas and the Toyota USA Foundation implemented to address the shortage of STEM teachers in Dallas and Garland school districts. Michelle’s career goals made the program especially pertinent to her. “I really want to teach elementary grades,” she says. “My prime, top-tier choice would be second grade. You have to teach all subjects in elementary school, but if I could choose it would be math and science. I love math and science, and I love how second graders, first to third, are super sweet. Fourth and fifth get a little too old for me. They have TikTok,” she laughs.
Another component of the Dallas Teaching Scholars program is hands-on workshops with accomplished educators who specialize in training burgeoning teachers to explain STEM concepts to their students. Michelle describes an experience with an engineering professor who had the cohort of student teachers reverse-engineer a hair dryer, a process that began with disassembling the entire machine. The plug apparatus was so difficult to take apart that, Michelle says, “We had to take it outside and smash it with a hammer.” Other projects included building their own wind tunnel. “We learned about the science behind it. Now if I want to do it with my students, I have a wind tunnel I can use.” These workshops, says Michelle, “helped us become better educators and people.”
As she begins her teaching residency and her final year of college, Michelle has some sage advice for fellow students: “Let go.” She adds, “I’m big on organization, but a little too much. I feel anxious when I don’t have control over things, so I try to over-plan and say, ‘Well if this doesn’t work then I’ll do this.’ I have a backup to a backup to a backup. But I was never actually living and enjoying my life… I would never do anything else except school, and I took way too many hours.”
“Just start small. Join one organization, try to see friends at least once a week, do one thing for yourself a day.”
michelle on self-care
While she acknowledges the importance of hard work and persistence, she cautions students to make choices that are authentic to them. “Ignore what you think would make you look good, because at the end of the day, if you hate your life, it’s not going to matter how many degrees you have or how many awards you have or how many organizations you were a part of. Just start small. Join one organization, try to see friends at least once a week, do one thing for yourself a day. Go through life like that, or else months will go by, and you’ll wonder, ‘Why am I so miserable?’ Maybe it’s because you’re not taking care of yourself at all… You’re not going to enjoy life if you’re overwhelmed all the time.”
Though she looks forward to many fulfilling years in a classroom, she acknowledges that “a lot of teachers don’t stay teachers their whole lives, because it’s a hard job. It takes a lot out of you, and your work isn’t limited to your contract hours. You’re usually working at home.” For Michelle, teaching is a first step toward her goal of becoming a school counselor and later, perhaps, an administrator, though she’s open to changing her mind as options arise. “I’ll see where life takes me,” she says.
Watch a video of our interview with Michelle.
Find out more about teacher certification at UT Dallas.
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