ABCs ofteaching Students mold young minds " "" peaple In the leeBuilding Sept. 29,senior John Fahey and an eighlh-grader from AHLF Junior High work on several math problems. Fahey began tutoring his freshman year in the math lab. ·Katie Ulliman Every Harding Univer5ity education major was required to spend an entire semester writing lesson plans, generating ideas and interacting with students with in-class experience as a student teacher. Students were sent out w local schools and placed in a specific classroom where they shared the responsibilities of heading a classroom with the on-staff teachers. Every Harding University student has a goal of getting a job after graduation. While the task of finding a job may have been difficult for some graduates, education majors typically found it easy to locate a teaching position with their reputadon amongst local school districtS and effective teaching methods, it was not hard to see why. "[Recruiters] want Harding graduates to teach in the ir schools." Dr. Clara Carroll. chairman of professional field experiences. said. ''I've had principals tell me. ' If I see on their resumes they graduated from H arding University. I grant them an interview immediately - I know they'll be good.' Another administrator told me, 'We hire as many H ardi ng graduates as we can because they're ethical and they know what they're doing.' Ifthey want a job right now, they can get one." Carroll said that about 150 education majors were placed as srudent teachers throughout the school year. Each student completed an applica~ tion with preferences ofschools within a 60~mile radius. Afrer being placed at a school, the student teachers worked 800 hours of field experience in about a 12·week time ~eriod. Before student teaching began, each student was taught through a program called Path Wise th roughout their entire education at H arding. Pam Wise was a mentoring program mat taught fUture educators the details ofeducation including being able to plan lessons, set the environment of learning and standards of conduct. " I like to give the analogy that it's like a play," Carroll said. "We plan to go to the play, the people in the play learn their lines, they plan their costumes, they plan their music, and then it's the day of the play and the environment is set for the audience. The music is playing, the stage is set, the excitement is in the air, and then the curtains open and you're on stage. "All of {hat is Path W ise; the planning, the secting the envi ronment in the classroom, and then when you're on stage, you're reaching," she said. ''And then the fourth segment is the next day in the newspaper, what's the reflection? What are the critics saying? Well in teaching it is, 'how did my students learn?'" Carroll said the Path Wise program was important because, in addition to their degrees, students must have passed the Praxis 3 exam to be a certified teacher. "Path Wise is the menroring model to become successful in Praxis 3," Carroll said. "All our Hard~ ing graduates thus far have passed Praxis 3, so it has been very successfUl." Senior Jessi Griffin was one ofthe 150 student teachers whom Harding sent Out this school year. Griffin student-taught third~graders in the fall and said she thought she was prepared to teach, and enjoyed those who helped her throughout her education at H arding. "IfI had to do it again, I would enroll tomor· row," Griffin said. Senior Kelly Stroh participated in the pre· student teaching program in the fall and taught first-graders. "1 like the age group because they learn read– ing that year and I think it's interesting how they develop phonics," Stroh said. Stroh said she enjoyed rhe teaching field but would nOt recommend it to everyone. "There are a lot of people who major in edu· cation JUSt so they can have (he summer off and spend time with their kids," Stroh said. "But this isn't about having an MRS degree - it's about being an influence in a child's life that may change them forever." ·Julie Pye
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