West Virginia: Letters to Future Educators

Cindy Woods (WV ’02)
Retired library and media specialist

Dear Future Teacher,

What an exciting career path you have chosen! I am retired from a 38-year career in the education field. I can truly say that you will experience joys and frustrations along the way, but it will all be rewarding.

My first piece of advice is to keep learning and growing in your professional life. Take the extra professional development, write the grant for your classroom, apply for fellowships. All of these things help you and definitely impact your students. I was fortunate to visit both the Philippines and Japan as part of educational exchange programs which reaped multiple benefits for my students and me.

Secondly, don’t be afraid to make a change. One advantage of being in education is that every five to six years you can change grades, subject areas, or schools. This helps you stay motivated. Over my career I taught language arts and reading, was a librarian, and worked at an elementary school, intermediate school, and middle school. This change will keep you from getting bored or stale in your teaching.

Develop a relationship with an experienced, positive teacher/mentor that you respect. He or she can be a wealth of knowledge and help you navigate the teaching life of students, parents, administrators, and colleagues. I cherish the friendships that developed over my teaching career — they helped keep me focused and boosted my spirits when I got discouraged.

You will never be bored with your career! Each day brings something new in engaging with your students. There is no monotony of an assembly line job where you know what to expect every day. I am so happy you have chosen teaching as your profession. You are definitely touching the future.