From student teaching at Wylie High, Ms. Paige Cunningham now comes to Wylie East to officially teach.
Where were you previously teaching?
This is actually my first year teaching. I student taught at Wylie High, teaching US History, and moved over here to officially teach.
How was teaching at Wylie High?
It was good and very similar to Wylie East but with a slightly different culture. Even then, I really like it here at East.
Why did you decide to become a teacher?
I started my teaching certification program two years ago because I already had my bachelors in Psychology. Then I went to law school in Chicago, I moved back to Texas and decided not to become a lawyer, and went back to school to become a teacher.
Why did you decide to become a teacher instead of a lawyer?
It just wasn’t the best career for me mental health wise. And if you know anything about lawyers, they have a very high rate of suicide. When I was in law school, I was in a very specific career path. I wanted to be a public defender, but I also was getting an extra degree in international human rights law. It was a very bizarre sort of scenario because most people go to law school for three years, but I was there for an extra year, and all my friends had graduated. I was far away from home, my family was still here in Texas, and the challenging material of law school just like the challenging work itself-working with the clients for the various organizations I worked for-consisted of people living in poverty situations, so it was a very emotionally draining job. It was really hard because if you messed something up somebody’s life could be at risk because they could go to prison. I still have my law degree, so maybe one day in the future when I feel I could handle that, maybe that could be something I could do one day.
What brought you to Wylie?
I am originally from Allen; a lot of my family is from and still lives in Allen. UT Dallas, where I was getting my teacher certification, they had this new program with the state where they have paid residency, and it was only in Frisco and Wylie. So I chose Wylie because it was closer, and usually as a student teacher you don’t get paid, but I got paid a little bit from the state so it was a really great opportunity and I stuck around because I really liked working here.
What do you do in your free time?
In the very little free time I have, right now I like trying new restaurants with my boyfriend. I also like hanging out and watching TV and playing with my cat.
Is there anything significant that happened while you were student teaching?
Last year, I was student teaching U.S. history. They had to take the U.S. history S.T.A.A.R., and they had all types of new question types on the test, and it was very challenging. We worked on it all year long and almost the entire class passed the test.
What is the hardest thing about being a teacher?
For me, it’s challenging because I have two different classes, and I’m on an island because there are no other psychology teachers in the school. I am having to create things on my own, and there were great teachers before who left me some things, but a lot of this I’m making from scratch. Just the amount of time and effort that goes into planning for two different classes and doing all the other stuff you have to do as a teacher, it’s a lot.
Why did you choose to teach high schoolers?
I have a lot of nieces and nephews, so I’ve kinda grown up around little kids my whole life. They’re fun and funny, but they’re also a lot to handle and the behavior issues in high school are a lot easier to handle than the issues of little kids who run around.
Have you had to take any disciplinary actions with the students?
Not really so much now, it’s just mainly getting kids off their phone and keeping them on task which part of it is my fault because I got to keep them engaged.
QOTW: What is your favorite TV show/movie
I just finished season two of Good Omens-loved that show-and my favorite movie would be Ever After.
