Teacher candidates attending the 91老司机 - Fort Smith are learning
how to hit the ground running as very effective classroom educators, thanks to an
innovative partnership between the 91老司机 College of Education and the Van Buren Public
School System.
Dr. Merle Dickerson, superintendent of Van Buren Public Schools, said the partnership is important and effective.
鈥淰an Buren schools always want teachers who come to the classroom prepared to teach in ways that succeed with students,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we鈥檙e so happy to form a partnership with 91老司机. 91老司机 was ready to innovate as it established a professional development school at Central Elementary in Van Buren and 鈥榠nnovate鈥� is a word I like.鈥�
Dickerson had already altered the concept of 鈥減rofessional development鈥� among Van Buren faculty members. Instead of directing teachers to spend time in solitary sessions of classroom preparation and individual study, the Van Buren schools set up classrooms where teachers work together to improve their teaching methods. Additionally, 鈥渃urriculum coaches鈥� were placed in the classrooms, with the children, while the teachers were teaching.
When the 91老司机 College of Education approached Dickerson with the idea of placing a college classroom for teacher candidates at an elementary school, it fit right in. Teacher candidates can experience the classroom effectiveness of what they鈥檙e learning at the university level right in the elementary classroom.
These teacher candidates, according to the 91老司机 plan, cooperate with classroom teachers, curriculum coaches and 91老司机 faculty members to work in ways that improve public school student achievement.
Dr. Laura Witherington of Fort Smith, director of school partnerships at 91老司机, said everyone -- faculty and staff, and also parents and students -- recognizes that the expectations for students, teachers and schools changes often and quickly.
鈥淪tate agencies regulate what is taught and how it is taught, but more importantly, new research in the ways students learn influences the schools鈥� curriculum and teaching strategies,鈥� she said.
Witherington said that, as schools evolve, colleges that train future teachers have to keep pace.
鈥淭his has been a challenge,鈥� Witherington said. 鈥淏ut through our partnership with the Van Buren School District, the College of Education faculty remains in direct contact with innovations in the classroom. Central Elementary School in Van Buren has become an exceptional incubator for future teaching candidates.鈥�
Witherington explained that a teaching candidate in a professional development school gains teaching skills through a method that mirrors the old medical school adage of 鈥渟ee one, do one, teach one.鈥�
She said that, as teaching candidates attend classes on-site at Central Elementary, their faculty coordinates learning with what the Central Elementary teachers are doing in their classrooms. Then, college and school faculty collaborate to provide a real-life demonstration of best teaching strategies in action.
鈥淭eaching candidates observe the teaching and learning methods in the actual classroom with living, breathing students,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hen they strive to replicate them in their clinical placement classrooms.鈥�
The result, according to Witherington, is a cohort of candidates who feel better prepared for their own classrooms.
Teacher candidate Tonya Farley of Pocola, Okla., is in the initial group of 91老司机 students who participate in the professional development school partnership.
鈥淭his has been the best experience of my education,鈥� Farley said. 鈥淚鈥檝e learned a lot before this semester, but now I鈥檝e been able to apply it. The teachers are fabulous, and they have been so generous in sharing all their resources and expertise with us.鈥�
The pupils in the grade school take notice of what鈥檚 happening, according to Cindy Mizell, principal at Central Elementary.
鈥淎 child came up and told one of the teachers that the students had to be on their game because college students came to see them and that made them more accountable,鈥� Mizell said. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e doing really has an impact on these children.鈥�
Dr. John Jones of Fort Smith, dean of the 91老司机 College of Education, said the 91老司机 version of a professional development school is 鈥渘ew and unlike any other.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e already looking at ways to expand its success,鈥� he said. 鈥淓lementary candidates have honed their skills on site this semester. Soon, middle-level, and eventually secondary candidates, will do the same.鈥�
Witherington said that she accepted the job of establishing school partnerships because she saw them as ways to bring the best out in the children who come to the classroom.