Head of the Class

On the field, defending the goal is her top priority, but for Kayla Zapcic ‘21, a goalie on the women’s field hockey team, there’s more at play.

 

Since the beginning of her sophomore year, she has been interning at Sudlersville Elementary School in Queen Anne’s County, shadowing and student-teaching in both kindergarten and first grade classrooms. After being accepted into the program at the beginning of her junior year, she is on track to earn her teaching certification in the state of Maryland, alongside her human development major.

Working closely with the education department, Kayla is grateful for the guidance of her professors. “When it comes to finding your placement for your elementary school field experience,” she explains, “[the department] is very diligent, making sure you have everything you need.”

 After finishing most of her distribution requirements, she began focusing on her education course load throughout her sophomore year, while simultaneously shadowing in a kindergarten classroom. “I love bringing the values and concepts we learn at Washington College to real life in the classroom,” she adds.

The next year, in a first-grade classroom, Kayla put her teaching skills to the test - writing and teaching her own lesson plans independently. Each week in her Processes and Acquisition of Reading course, she writes a lesson plan, three of which will be taught throughout the course of the semester to her first-graders. Bringing her own lessons to the front of the classroom is nerve-wracking, yet exciting. “Using the Maryland State Standards, I get to think of my own lessons and create fun, learning activities to bring to my class.”

In the education department, seniors are expected to teach full-time throughout their spring semester, a plunge that Kayla is thrilled to take. Immersing herself in the classroom environment, she can’t imagine a better way to prepare for her future as an elementary school teacher.

Back on campus, Kayla is consistently improving her teaching approach, particularly through her coursework. In Professor Clarke-Vivier’s Educational Psychology course, she learned new approaches to teaching, particularly as it relates to a student’s well-being and emotional health.

“We learn about teaching effectively in a classroom, while also making sure we don’t neglect the human aspect of a student,” she explains, “He/She is a human being with thoughts and feelings of his/her own, which we must take into consideration.”

Apart from teaching, Kayla is a Shorewoman at heart. Standing in the crowd at last year’s War on the Shore game, she truly felt the camaraderie on campus. Hundreds of students filled the stands as Goose Nation’s men’s lacrosse team fought Salisbury on the field. Regardless of the loss, everyone was unified and excited, and that’s a moment she’ll never forget.