Once again, NDA has the opportunity to have future teachers learning and observing in our classrooms. Thirteen sophomores from Saint Norbert College are at NDA learning about the many different aspects of being a classroom  teacher.

Mrs. Carolyn Brown, an English teacher at Notre Dame, has a student teacher in her classroom named Ms. Bridget Carney.

Ms. Carney grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and currently attends Saint Norbert College. An English major at SNC, she wants to become a high school English teacher.

When asked if she had always wanted to be an English teacher, Ms. Carney said, “Not right when I came out of the womb.”

Her desire to become an English teacher all started in third grade. Also, she loved her tenth-grade English teacher.

Ms. Carney said the teachers who influenced her the most had “a great passion for teaching” and “truly loved” what they did.

One thing that Ms. Carney has already learned from her short time at NDA is to always go into school with a positive mindset. Ms. Carney will hopefully continue to learn from Mrs. Brown and her classes. She plans to actually teach for three days of her second week.

Mrs. Brown, who admits she’s sometimes reluctant to share her classroom time with her students, is excited about being paired with Ms. Carney.

The veteran English teacher labels the SNC teacher as “very intuitive.”

“Ms. Carney is a smart young woman ready to throw herself into the classroom experience. She and I have ‘clicked’ and become a team.  I involved her in our class discussions right at the start because I could see she was capable and could express herself well,” said Mrs. Brown.

“She did a good job with that ‘first impression’ letter she wrote me,” she continued. “Here was a young woman who could write well. Then, when I met her in person, she seemed confident and respectful, not cocky or condescending, and more than willing to work. Now I find myself regretting a whole week of her five weeks here has already gone by.”

Lastly, some hobbies of Ms. Carney’s outside of teaching include running, “dropping a move on the dance floor” and “taking long walks to Dunkin’ Donuts.”

Ms. Bridget Carney and the other Saint Norbert College block students will hopefully learn a lot with their experience at NDA, and students are lucky to have them as teachers in the classroom and tutors in study halls.