A day in the life of a… STEM EDUCATOR

Zoe Land wanted to be a wildlife scientist before the pull of sharing her passion led her down the education path

Zoe’s siblings originally inspired her passion to share her love of STEM. “I wanted them to be as passionate about science as I was and I found I really enjoyed helping them,” she says. But Zoe might not have got the chance to take that passion further had it not been for QUT and its flexible learning environment.

“I needed to continue work while studying, and QUT made studying online very easy,” says Zoe of her Masters of Teaching, majoring in Maths and Science (Biology) at QUT.

Now Zoe teaches all high school grades, from 7 to 12, and is currently teaching both maths and science. And no one was more surprised than Zoe when maths turned out to be her fave subject to teach!

“I loved science when I was in high school and I loved completing a science degree, so probably the biggest shock to my adult self is how much I enjoy teaching math,” she says.

Here’s what her day in the classroom looks like…

6.30am

Up for breakfast and coffee at home.

8.00am

I try to arrive at school just before 8am to check emails, attend to admin tasks for the day and mark any student work.

8.40am

First bell of the day rings! And it’s classes all day. First up, our daily homeroom care lesson.

Master of Teaching, Secondary Education and Teaching, QUT

8.50am

The first of my four 70-minute lessons kicks off. These are always math or science.

10.05am

The first lunch break of the day for the students. Some days I’m scheduled to complete a playground supervision shift.

10.35am

Classes resume.

12.55pm

Second lunch break session. Depending on the day of the week I will also run a study group for students during one of these breaks.

1.35pm

Classes resume for the afternoon.

3.00pm

After school breaks up for the day I have meetings and volleyball training, (I have been a volleyball coach for two years), or I volunteer at the homework club one of my colleagues runs in the school library.

4.30-5.45pm

Depending on the week of term, I’ll head home around now to spend time with my family and do some sewing and reading.

After

Hours

On weekends I enjoy camping – it’s always a good escape – and there is always a lot of wildlife to spot!

Bachelor of Applied Science, University of Queensland