Teaching to learn

University High School junior Sarah Collins knew her calling early in life. “As soon as I started baby-sitting, I knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Collins said. The same applies to 16-year-old Danielle Baziotis.

As a child, Baziotis remembers spending hours teaching her lesson plans to stuffed animals or anyone who would play audience.

“I have so much love for kids,” Baziotis said.

This year Baziotis and Collins, 17, have the opportunity to test their teaching skills in a real classroom while earning college credit.

They are two of 25 high school juniors and seniors enrolled in the Teaching Academy/Careers in Education class at U-Hi.

Students in the class spend four days a week sharing classroom space with elementary or middle school teachers in the Central Valley School District.

During the course students develop portfolios to earn college credit and to satisfy the introduction to education course at the college level.

“It’s a way for them to identify the love of teaching, to see if it’s a right fit very early on,” said Rhonda Austing, who teaches the course at U-Hi. “It’s really exciting to see them at work and see the light come on.”

This is the first year the course has been offered to students in U-Hi. Central Valley High School has had a similar program for two years, Austing said.

The course, part of a “worksite learning” program, is taken over the course of two trimesters. Students spend the first trimester in the classroom with Austing learning basic standards and competencies required of all teachers in Washington.

The classroom instruction includes topics like childhood development curriculum, lesson planning, classroom management and working with special needs students.

During the second trimester students take those lessons out to community classrooms, observing, working with children one-on-one, and eventually teaching one or two lessons with their mentor teacher’s help.

“The more experience a teacher has in a classroom before they have a classroom of their own, the better it is,” said Christi Dotson, a first-grade teacher at Ponderosa Elementary. “And having the extra hand and another ear is really great, too.”

Dotson is hosting U-Hi senior Michelle Allen in her classroom this year. On Wednesday, Allen taught her first lesson to Dotson’s students.

With about 20 small eyes and ears on her, Allen explained her assignment to the children. She wanted the students to write their names on a sheet of paper, and then draw pictures to represent their hobbies and interests.

“There is only one of me, so it’s easy to get to know me, but there are so many of you for me to get to know,” Allen said to the students.

When she was done, all the little hands went up.

“Miss Allen, Miss Allen, I want to be a teacher, too!” one little boy shouted.

As Allen interacted with the kids, Austing was there to observe.

“They need to know I’m here and that I’m on top of what they are doing,” Austing said.

Austing makes professionalism, including appropriate appearance and behavior in the workplace very much a part of the curriculum. It’s in part an effort to gain the respect and the support of the teachers that host the students and serve as their mentors.

“Without the support of the teachers, we wouldn’t have this program,” Austing said.

The mentor teachers also fill out a progress report to let Austing know how the students are doing. On Fridays, the students meet back in the classroom at U-Hi.

“We talk about how their lessons went, what they learned,” Austing said.

Next year, Austing’s Teaching Academy class could be meeting each week at nearby Chester Elementary School.

District officials announced a proposed facilities plan in October that includes the possibility of transitioning Chester to other uses, such as housing students from the nearby high school. U-Hi is over capacity this year, with more than 1,800 students.

To temporarily ease the pinch felt at U-Hi, the high school students could occupy the empty classrooms at the elementary school.

That idea that has sparked some concern from parents, but staff at the elementary school said it could be positive for the school.

“Our kids just love having the high school students here,” said Chester Principal Terri Weishaar. “We’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.”

The move could also be beneficial for the future teachers, offering more exposure to the children.

“Parents should know our kids are great,” Austing said. “The students in this class are here because they love being around children.”