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Student teachers drive for success |
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Tuesday, 05 December 2006 |
by JULIA HARR
News Reporter
Prospective teachers are required to do a student teaching internship in order to graduate. For some, this requirement entails some lengthy commuting.
Leanna
M. Kiess, a senior special education major, drove almost two hours
every day so she could do her student teaching internship at Freedom
High School in Morganton.
“At one point I was spending $75 a week on gas,” she said.
Kiess now student teaches at Crossnore Elementary School in Avery County. The commute is about 35 minutes, she said.
“I don’t mind the commute so much because I enjoy the school I teach at,” Kiess said.
For other students, having a job and traveling daily can be an additional difficulty.
“I can’t work at my job on the day I have to go teach,” Samantha J. Harlow, a senior history, secondary education major, said.
Harlow drives nearly an hour to South Caldwell High School in Hudson so she can teach classes.
By carpooling with another student, Harlow saves money on gas because she only drives once every other week.
“The best part about assisting is being given the chance to teach,”
Harlow said. “I am picking up tips and techniques and learning
different methods of discipline and how to keep students interested.”
Harlow and Kiess both said they love student teaching and value the experience they get from hands-on classroom experience.
“Student teaching is absolutely essential to learn the profession,”
Interim Assistant Dean of Leadership and Education Studies Dr. Roma
Angel said. “It’s a major induction into the teaching career.”
Students get a preference where they complete their internships.
However, because of space limitations, many will have their school
assigned.
Some students teach as close as Watauga High School while others have to commute over an hour.
“We had 200 people request to teach in Watauga County this semester;
the county only requested 60-65 teachers,” Angel said. “We try to place
students where they want to be, but that isn’t always possible.”
Angel said even students at University of North Carolina at Charlotte
could have an hour commute within the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school
system.
Placement depends on the program students are studying. Students are placed where they will be most successful, Angel said.
“We try to keep the commute 45 minutes or less,” Angel said.
Some students do their student teaching in Wake County near Raleigh.
These students typically move to the area because of the distance, but
the students teaching in Wake County requested to be there.
“We get a lot of requests from far away counties because we have a
really good reputation,” Angel said. “[School systems] want Appalachian
students.”
If students are unsatisfied with their assignments, they can appeal to have it changed.
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