Former SMS student teacher enjoying Carthage job

By BECKY COOPER and
LAINIE NICOLAS
Room 210 Staff Writers
Mr. Jacob Osborne, former student teacher at South Middle School, is now teaching at Carthage Junior High School.
Last year, he was a student teacher in Mr. Jason Weaver's world history class, so he could teach geography. Being a real teacher is different for Mr. Osborne.
"I have been treated differently by my students," he said. "I think that is because whenever I was a student teacher, the students were used to Mr. Weaver and the way he ran his classroom. Student teaching gave me an opportunity to figure out how I wanted to run my classroom.
Another big difference is that at Carthage there are two different teachers for every subject in every grade. That means he is not the only geography teacher. "This has been a huge help to me because the other teacher and I are working on every lesson so we can try to put both of our ideas together to make a good lesson," he said.
Mr. Osborne says Mr. Weaver taught him a lot. "He taught me to teach lessons without using the textbook; there are also certain organizational things that Mr. Weaver taught me. I also have my gradebook set up the same way that he does."
Mr. Weaver said he enjoyed working with Mr. Osborne "because I had the chance to teach someone what I was never taught." Mr. Weaver was also affected by his experience with a student teacher. "It helped me become a better teacher because he would ask me questions and even though I knew how to answer them it made me realize how to do better at it myself."
Since Carthage is Mr. Osborne's hometown, he feels a certain loyalty to the district. "I hope to stay here in Carthage," he says. "I liked Joplin a lot and I wouldn't trade my time student teaching there for anything."