Merriam Webster notes a difference between an educator and a teacher, and students at Newton County High School are learning that difference in the new program Educator Prep, formerly called Teacher Academy.
According to the dictionary, a teacher is one who provides instruction while an educator is a student of the theory and practice of education. For most this difference might seem nominal, but students guided by instructor Chafony Poole are learning in this new program at the Career and Technical Education Center what goes into being an educator. Several students in the 16-member class acknowledge that what they understood about being a teacher was what they saw in a class period each day but had never thought about the preparation going into that class.
“We have learned that there are rules on how teachers are supposed to teach kids and how they are supposed to correct them,” A’Nya Tillman said. “There are effective and ineffective teachers and how they correct students has an effect on them, so you have to know how to correct a student and deal with behavioral issues in the right way.” Tillman said that she would like to teach younger students in lower elementary or perhaps teach high school students an elective like psychology. “I just have this idea of helping people.”
In addition to learning about teachers’ codes of conduct and ethics and methods of effective teaching, students learn about the history of education, the college curriculum for students wanting to teach, and the testing requirements like the Praxis test required after degrees are completed, Poole said. Additionally, students are also spending time in elementary classrooms two days each week.
Kylie Bagley, a member of the class and president of the student organization Ed Rising, said her experiences in the class have helped affirm her decision to major in education. Bagley has been working in a sixth-grade reading class doing one-on-one tutoring in the Educator Prep program, but she has also babysat and taught a pre-school class at her church.
“I already kind of had my mind set on it because I’ve always done stuff with kids and then I got in this class and learned some more of the stuff that goes on behind it, and I still didn’t change my mind. The class just helped make up my mind.”
The program also offers students a second year of study that requires more hands-on experience of Educator Prep students. In the second-year students have to create lesson plans and actually teach the class, Poole said. An additional benefit of the program is scholarships for students completing the program and majoring in education in college. William Carey College offers a $20,000 scholarship to students who complete the two-year program with passing grades while Belhaven College offers $14,000 is scholarship monies.
Currently the class is preparing for a trip to Lazy Acres - not as students but as teachers. Each student had to prepare all the necessary documents like permission forms and information letters to prepare for the trip in addition to figuring out costs for each child and making travel arrangements.
Even if a high school student is not sure if they want to be a teacher, coach, counselor or school administrator, Janae Coleman said the class aids in making that decision. “It gives us experience to see if we really want to be an educator,” Coleman, whose father and mother are educators, said. “It also gives us a chance to help the youth, so I think it is a really good thing. While Coleman said she’s not ruling education out as a future career option, she said she better understands her parents’ jobs because of the class. “I used to think their jobs were so easy, but now I get it,” she said. “It’s not easy.”
Newton County High School’s inaugural class of Educator Prep is a 16 member class taught by Chafony Poole. The program, a career and technical education elective, allows students to explore the field of teaching, coaching, and counseling at all levels from elementary through high school. Students in the class learn about the history of American education, teachers’ code of ethics, and the college curriculum or educators.
Submitted Photo
