By Kevin Sears
From a former student to a student teacher at Fountain Valley High School (FVHS), Kevin Nguyen is the embodiment of a true Baron 4 Life.
Graduating from FVHS in 2012, Kevin Nguyen is a current student teacher working under the guidance of history teachers Kelly Ducat and Bryan Walker. As a part of completing his teaching credential program at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), Nguyen currently teaches two sections of United States History and one section of World History.
However, Nguyen’s journey towards teaching began far away from the classroom. After graduating high school, Nguyen enlisted in the U.S. Navy as an electronics technician for navigation equipment on submarines.
“While I was in the Navy we were required to attend training weekly, and after I became a supervisor, I realized how much fun I had giving the weekly training seminars,” Nguyen said.
After serving in the Navy for six years, Nguyen decided to become a teacher and began his teaching journey by obtaining a bachelor’s degree in United States History at CSULB. Fortunately, Nguyen was able to pay for his college degree through the G.I. Bill.
Also known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, the G.I. Bill was approved in 1944 by Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide World War II veterans funds for college education, unemployment insurance and housing. The G.I. Bill has been extended numerous times since its inception in 1944, with the most recent extension, the Post-9/11 GI Bill, funding the education of over 800,000 veterans.
In order to become a teacher, an applicant is required to have a bachelor’s degree and a teaching credential. Nguyen began his teaching credential process by first reapplying to his university’s credentialing program at CSULB, where Nguyen took classes on classroom management and various teaching methods. Following those classes, Nguyen submitted a list to CSULB of schools and master teachers that he would like to shadow.
As a part of the shadowing process, Nguyen was required to observe and begin teaching in the classroom.
The final step of Nguyen’s credentialing program requires him to complete the California Teaching Performance Assessment (CALTPA), which is designed to measure an applicant’s knowledge, skills and ability to teach students from a Pre-K to 12th-grade level on core subjects.
“[To complete the CALTPA] I would film myself teaching and have to write a set of rationales to explain everything I do while I am teaching,” Nguyen said. “It ends up looking like a 20–30 page essay at the end, and I have to do two of them during my stint as a student teacher.”
“My experience has been great teaching at FVHS. There’s a great community of students here, and everyone has been amazing,” Nguyen said, “I really enjoy interacting with students and teaching my favorite subject, history.”
Moving into the next school year, Nguyen plans on working as a full-time teacher at a high school in Orange County or Long Beach. He hopes to teach either United States History, which he majored in, or World History; however, he is open to teaching other social studies classes in areas such as geography, government or economics.
“I hope to bring my experiences traveling around the world and my interest in history to the classroom in whatever subject that I end up teaching,” Nguyen said.
