The Student Missouri State Teacher's Association, or SMSTA, sponsored a mixer in Dempster Hall on April 5 with the goal of bringing together education students and new teachers to speak about the experiences of their first year as educators. The mixer gave students the opportunity to listen to teachers in their areas of focus and to ask questions regarding their own concerns for their professional future.

The students came prepared with questions for the professionals working in their future careers and were given time to discuss the answers. Courtney Friedman, a student at Southeast, said she came with a particular interest in one angle of being a new teacher.

"Mine would be classroom management," Friedman said. "That was a lot of the questions that I asked the different teachers -- just how do they manage their classrooms, especially like their first year going into it."

Student Virginia Besancenez said classroom management is one of the more important and often difficult parts of being a teacher, and one she enjoys hearing professionals speak about.

"I like hearing about classroom management," Besancenez said. "It seems to be one of the most difficult things, and when you're going into teaching, it's something that you won't know unless you're in the classroom, until you get in there."

Student Ashley Gettinger said the teachers went into detail about their classroom management approaches, including the physical setup of the room and the best ways to approach children as a teacher. She also said the teachers spoke about what it's like to go from being a student in college to being a new teacher, and how that first year prepares an educator for the rest of their career.

"[We heard] how they started out and problems they overcame and where their class is at right now -- the difference it made in one year," Gettinger said. "And that it's not going to be perfect the first year you teach, but you'll gradually learn what classroom management skills work for your class, and you'll just have to adjust to it."

Samohya Stallons, a first-grade teacher at Franklin Elementary School in Cape Girardeau, was one of the teachers who spoke with students at the mixer. She graduated from Southeast in May 2013 and was able to relate to the students while also giving them an idea of what to expect in their first year of teaching.

Stallons said she was able to provide students with a new teacher's perspective, but many of the most important parts of being a teacher can only really be learned by taking the step into the classroom.

"A lot of students were worried about their first year teaching, and then if they would have the support that they need and if they would know what to do," Stallons said. "And you don't know what to do, because it's your first year."

Stallons also said while there are many external factors that can affect a new teacher, the most important ones are those that the teacher has control over.

"The most important advice I gave tonight, I think, is that you have to be comfortable with yourself to teach your kids the best way you can," Stallons said. "To have your kids learn the most effectively, you have to be comfortable with you."