College of Education and Human Development

Meet Emily: Family and consumer sciences teacher education

"The classes were small and personable, and you were able to get to know your classmates and the professors a little bit better."

What is your role and where do you work?

I am a family and consumer science teacher at Portage Northern High School.

What does a day look like for you?

A day of a teacher is pretty crazy. I have about 180 students a day and I have six out of seven hours that I teach a day and I have a variety of classes that I teach. I teach foods and nutrition, advanced foods and nutrition and child development parenting. So I have very hands on classes which are really busy.

Why did you become a teacher?

I really liked the program at Western because it was small and not huge. Some of the business classes that I did take were larger classes, but the family consumer science classes were small and personable, and you were able to get to know your classmates and the professors a little bit better because of the small atmosphere.

Did you do any internships during your program?

I did two internships when I was at WMU. So I did a semester where I had a class that was a pre-internship class, and then the following semester I had my full internship from January to April.

What was your experience with professors?

I had great experiences with professors and I didn't have any issues.

Why did you go back for a master's degree?

I received my bachelor's in 2011 and then I got my masters in 2019. So I took a few years of teaching before I decided to go and get my masters just to kind of get my feet in the ground and get good at what I was doing and then feel more comfortable. And then I decided to go back for my masters. Also with getting your masters at a lot of schools, you're on another pay scale, so not only was I able to learn additional things in my program area, I was also able to move up on the pay scale for teaching.

Why should future educators pick Western?

I think future educators should pick Western because of the options that they have. They have a lot of fun, smaller programs. For example, family and consumer science.

And if you wanted to change your major from family and consumer science, they have different education majors and minors that you can choose from.

Family and consumer sciences teacher education at WMU

Are you interested in helping youth learn how to make healthy lifestyle choices? This major prepares students to teach family and consumer sciences curriculum at the middle or high school level.

Family and consumer sciences teachers are in high demand across the country. Most of the recent graduates in this major have secured teaching positions in the State of Michigan before graduating or immediately upon graduation. The FCS teacher shortage is expected to grow in the coming years.

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