Kaleb Johnson ’15 always knew he wanted to be an elementary school teacher. While at Missouri Western, the hands-on experience that Kaleb gained in elementary school classrooms both reinforced his desire to be a teacher and prepared him for what life in the classroom would be like. “We were in the classroom a lot through our methods classes to put those practices into place instead of just reading from a book,” Johnson said of his applied learning experience at Missouri Western. The applied learning helped Johnson learn the skills he needed, but the professors themselves also had a profound impact on his life and career. “I felt like I was more than just a number … my professors knew who I was as a person and a student, and that really helped mold me into the teacher I am today.” Johnson takes that personalization and carries it over into his elementary school classrooms, where he hopes to be able to have a similar impact on his students.
