Building confidence in the classroom and in a new career
Before the pandemic, Ms Cassie Longworth worked in Print Media and had her own business creating set props and costumes. Like so many people, COVID saw her reevaluating her career, and wondering what would come next.
“I was thinking about how I could work artistically, but also pass my knowledge onto other people,” she recalls. “I was thinking that teaching would be great so I could pass my knowledge onto the kids and they could learn that there’s more than just being an artist in the creative industry after school.”
She took the leap and is now in the thick of her studies to become a teacher. As a part of Trinity’s 2024 Internship Program, Ms Longworth is in the Visual Arts department, sharing her knowledge of the art world with students and she says that the time in the classroom has been fuelling her growth as a pre-service teacher.
“It’s just been great to be in a classroom and actually being able to implement different things that I’m learning, seeing what strategies work for me, and also seeing other staff and what they do and how they work.
“[At Uni], we always learn about what lessons we’re learning and what curriculum we’re teaching, but we’re not necessarily learning about the little things, like building rapports with the students and how you do that. Now that I’m in a classroom, I’m actually able to see how that’s done, how that works for me, and how I can best learn to cater to my students so that they get the best experience in the classroom.”
Making a big career change wasn’t without its daunting moments. Ms Longworth worried, as a mature-age student, whether she’d made the right decision, but the Trinity Internship has helped to cement her confidence that she’s headed in the right direction.
“It takes so long when you’re studying to get into a school and start doing prac,” she says. “I started the internship before I started my first teaching prac, so I had an advantage going into prac, knowing how a school functions and how I could be in front of students, and build that confidence so that I knew what I was doing when I went to a school.
“There are so many things you can learn in a book, but actually getting up in front of a class and being able to be confident and to be able to teach and manage a classroom with so many different personalities … to be there a whole year as well – one day a week for a whole year – is great, so I can see it through, see the programs being made, see assessments being done, the marking being done from start to finish.
“I’ve been able to see it all, which has been so advantageous for me, studying to be a teacher.”
Her fellow interns have also been a key source of support throughout the experience.
“I feel really supported by everyone. Not just my staff and my faculty, but the internship group as a whole, we’ve all become really good friends and we can talk about our experiences together, which is great. We’re growing together as teachers and we’re exchanging stories, exchanging insights. It’s been fantastic.”
