How Linda Miller鈥檚 cross-country travels helped her find her career as a teacher

Written byElizabeth Rose-Arcuri

鈥淢y husband was in the military, and then after he retired we moved back to Louisiana. I always wanted to finish school, so UL 老司机福利网 just seemed like the logical choice because it was right here.鈥

Linda Miller
Graduation Year
Class of 2019
Major
Secondary Education & Teaching
Hometown
Pineville, La.

Where I'm From

I moved around the country for my husband鈥檚 military career for years before coming back to Louisiana for good.

Where I Am

I finished my degree in secondary education and teaching, and now I鈥檓 teaching 7th-grade social studies.

Where I'm Going

I鈥檓 working on my master鈥檚 in special education.

Linda Miller always knew she wanted to be a teacher, an ambition shaped by her experiences in 24 different schools between kindergarten and graduation.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 grow up as traditionally as most people. We just moved a lot,鈥 Linda said. 鈥淚 had a lot of really fantastic teachers 鈥 that I could come in the middle of the year and they acted like I鈥檇 been there the whole year and didn鈥檛 treat me differently. I wanted to be that for somebody one day.鈥

Linda鈥檚 experiences moving across the country didn鈥檛 stop after high school graduation, either.

鈥淢y husband was in the military, and then after he retired we moved back to Louisiana,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 always wanted to finish school, so UL 老司机福利网 just seemed like the logical choice because it was right here.鈥

Waiting to finish her degree gave Linda a different experience than most college students.

鈥淚 think I do have a different perspective from being an older student. I mean, we still complain about homework and assignments, but I wasn鈥檛 thinking about graduating and being out on my own for the first time,鈥 she said.

鈥淚 think because I have real-world experience 鈥 and I don鈥檛 meant to say that college students don鈥檛 because a lot have more real-world experience than I do 鈥 but being older, I still had to pay a mortgage. I was a paralegal for 15 years, and knowing how the world works, and how having a job works, and how expectations work.鈥

Getting Experience in the Classroom

From her experiences growing up, Linda initially wanted to teach high school, but discovered she had a love for teaching middle schoolers. She completed her in a sixth-grade classroom at Youngsville Middle School.

鈥淚 loved it 鈥 I didn鈥檛 think that I would like students that young, but they really surprised me,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 expected them to be more immature than they were. Don鈥檛 get me wrong 鈥 they were in sixth grade, but they were a lot more 鈥榳ith it鈥 than I expected.鈥

Linda said her Teacher Residency experience was extremely valuable and really prepared her for life as a teacher.

鈥淚 think just a lot of the little things that they can鈥檛 teach you in the college classroom (are what I gained from it),鈥 she said. 鈥淚 was really lucky because I was involved in everything, so I almost felt like I taught there, in a way, because they included me in the conversations.鈥

鈥淭hat was the best thing: being able to be hands-on 鈥 and the little things: how to make deposits from fees you collect and how to fill out certain paperwork,鈥 she continued. 鈥淎nd that sounds crazy because it鈥檚 not the actual teaching the content part, but it鈥檚 those things that you can do more efficiently so you have more time to prepare to teach the content part.鈥

Now that she鈥檚 leading her own classroom, Linda loves her second career as a teacher.

鈥淚 like meeting the new kids every year,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 was walking out to duty today and (the kids) were like, 鈥楬ey, Ms. Miller!鈥 Getting to know them, and getting them more comfortable and getting to know me. I love getting to know them and seeing how their personalities change over the year.鈥

Learn more about the secondary education and teaching major.