education majOl~s prepare lOr the IUture J ...;; TEACH SERVES COMMUNITY; ENHANCES STUDENT INTEREST Many student organizations are geared to help ease the transition from coll ege to professional fields. However, Touching Each Available Child's Heart (TEACH) not only helped education majors make that transition, but it also gave them a chance to help in the community. TEACH aimed to prepare its members for their careers by giving them severa l opportunities to educate themselves. They performed several service projects to helpmembers and thecommunity. "Service projects are aimed at helping the public throughout the year, " sophomore Vicky Luttrell said. "Most ofus fee l as though our entire major revolves around helping other people, so it only makes sense that we help people while preparing ourselves for the real world. We all know that what we ' re doing is helpful an d instructional. " Service projects ranged from giving books to ch ildr en to bringing speakers for teachers in the community. "Most of our projects target th e children," Luttrell sa id . uHowever, there is no reason not to invite teachers from the area to come and get help as well. It seems as if"the best ideas are those in which there is a way to help the community and us." Several of TEACH's projects helped members prepare for their classrooms. "This club definitely gives us an opportunity to go into the schools and see what is going on," seniorTonyaMoran said. ''You also get to see the kids at other places besides school sometimes. That is especially neat because we get to see them in the classroom during our student teaching." TEACH conducted a program that helped teachers get creative ideas to decorate their classrooms. "As an elementary teacher, our classroom is ou r second home," Luttrell said. "Teachers' classrooms have to be decorated acco rding to the t eacher ' s personality. I'm sure the helpwe've gotten this year wi ll prepare all of us for decorating our classrooms throughout our careers." TEACH also provided a place for education majors to gather and di scuss their experiences. "Several of us are studen t teach ing and several aren ' t ," graduate student Cyndi Connell said. "It's a great environment for moral supp ort. We a ll come together and share stories. The first years in teaching can be very exciting but also very tiring. It's nice to have a group of people to share your thoughts with and who really understand what you' re going through." ManyoftheTEACH meetings were times when education majors who we re do ing the ir student teaching could see their friends . "When yo u are student teaching, you're kind of out of the loop," Moran sa id. "TEACH meetings are a great time to visit with your fr iends and share war stories of what's been going on. We 're all excited to finally be teaching, butwe still all need some support from others that are in a similar environment. Most of us who are in TEACH share a lot of the same characteristics, so we automatically have a bond that makes us different from some other organizations." TEACH was one of the many organizations that gave something back to the community wh il e helping Harding students learn what their profession is all about. - Philip Murphy Dr. Warren Casey tells members of the Collegiate Music Educators National Conference what they can expect when they begin their careers in music education. CMENC was an outlet for students to gain Imowledge about teaching before dealing with students. Brooke Phillips, Amanda Nicholson and Cyndi Connell design a sign for the Special Olympics. Student Council for Exceptional Children provideda forum for special education majors to gather andexpress their thoughts on the educational system for special students. EDUCATI ON 267 •
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