ST. PETERSBURG — Courtney Bennett turns 22 this month, but she has already spent more time in a middle school classroom than most first-year teachers.
Bennett started teaching math Aug. 11 at Tyrone Middle School, and she landed there by choice. Elementary and high school never appealed to her.
“There was a negative reaction when I talked about teaching middle schoolers,” she said. “It was like, ‘Ew, why do that?’ But I think middle schoolers are an overlooked group. In any setting, they have so much drive and curiosity. ... Now you still have to foster it, but I want to make their transitions easier to high school.”
Isabel Rodriguez, a 15-year teaching veteran who worked alongside Bennett during her nearly yearlong internship, said few first-year teachers take on that age group.
“I don’t see it very often at all,” she said. “But she knew the lesson plan and what the standards are.
“She also helped me save time and made me more efficient.”
Bennett interned at Madeira Beach Fundamental while taking courses at the University of South Florida, a stretch of classroom time most teaching candidates never get. She made enough of an impression on Rodriguez and school administrators that they tapped her as a long-term substitute once the internship ended.
“I felt so prepared because of (Rodriguez),” Bennett said. “The observations of my supervisor were that I had great relationships with the students. I got to know their names and made them feel seen and heard.”
Rodriguez said administrators had noticed Bennett on their own.
“They said, ‘Do you think Miss Bennett is interested in this and us advocating for her for this position?’” Rodriguez said. “Courtney said, ‘I’m not sure yet. I still don’t feel I’m ready to take it on. In the classroom, seventh grade is different than sixth.’
“I said, ‘I think you should do it.’ Now she’s doing it and it’s perfect. She got into the curriculum fast.”
What impressed Rodriguez most was how quickly Bennett took command of the room.
“The discipline she set forth from the beginning was great,” Rodriguez said. “She set expectations from the get-go so she would not have misbehaviors.
“I stressed at the beginning that even though there were two teachers in the room, she shows she means business so that she had the support from them.
“We got to the point where the kids were just asking her. I was like invisible, which is something really good. It’s so much better when a teacher has classroom management.”
Some of that poise came from outside the classroom. Bennett had already spent years mentoring middle schoolers at St. Petersburg City Theatre and teaching taekwondo at FastKicks Academy, a martial arts school in Seffner.
“Working in an environment that’s not as education-related, it helped me with the teaching process,” she said. “I also like to hear those students’ outlooks on life, the physical changes they go through and working with them outside math specific where they can truly be themselves.”
Rodriguez and Bennett still keep in touch.
“She is going to be an amazing teacher,” Rodriguez said. “It’s only her first year, and I can’t wait to see how things go for her.”
Teaching runs in Bennett’s family. Her brother, Austin, teaches high school English at Braden River High School in Bradenton. Her mother, Kelly, works in data management technology at Pasadena Fundamental, and her father, Brian, teaches air conditioning at Pinellas Technical College.
That pull won out after Bennett decided early on that a career in architecture, her first choice, wasn’t for her.
“I love watching students grow in math skills,” she said. “It’s so beautiful.”