Berea's student teachers get alternative experience

By Donna Morgan, '89

Across the nation, America’s schools are redefining the mission of education and the job of teaching to meet the demands of a knowledge-based economy. Teachers must support the needs of all learners and develop student-centered approaches to help children perform at high levels. Schools and educators are becoming collaborators with their communities to prepare students for life in an evolving world. In the past, schools have served as a touchstone to community for many families. Today, as that connection is strengthened, beginning teachers face an increasingly demanding job. To help students meet the rigorous demands of modern education, Berea’s department of education studies has redesigned its approach to educating teachers.

In the early 1990s, with an eye to upcoming trends in public education, department faculty conducted a review of their teacher training program and formulated a portfolio-driven model, which was instituted in the mid-1990s. The new program requires that students keep a portfolio which, through self-examination and recording of experience, provides evidence of the students’ progress in becoming qualified teachers. The focus on a portfolio strongly supports the department’s theory on learning, which is expressed in one of their goals for beginning teachers: "an understanding that authentic learning requires experience (direct and vicarious), inquiry, time, interest, self-correction and external criticism."

The portfolio model is derived partly from the Kentucky Education Reform Act, which set high standards for licensing educators. The model and its standards are also accepted in states outside Kentucky, due to similar performance standards developed by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium.

Senior participants in the professional term meet to discuss their plans for short term with program coordinators Dr. Oliver Keels and Dr. Dana Stuchul. (Clockwise from left) Dr. Keels, Michael Bess, Dr. Stuchul, Melissa McManis, April Schill, Tony Graves, Mechelle Hamblin, Steve McKaig, and Gina Fugate.

Oliver Keels, professor of education studies, recalls the education studies department’s approach to the new program. "The department embraced the possibilities of this new model, which actually included some of the activities we were already doing," he explains. "[The difference is that] students that attend the program now leave with far, far more experience than before.” He points out that, while today’s students aren’t spending any more time in the program than previous students, their time is more focused and planned around getting professional experience in alternative settings.

"The good thing about this experience," Keels continues, "is that it is not simply an extension of the classroom." As part of their curriculum, education studies students are now required to develop and plan a hands-on service activity based on their interests. Dana Stuchul, assistant professor of education, notes how the alternative education experience is customized to individual interests. "Students forge their own paths,"she says. As they take a holistic look at the education system and process, students research alternative settings in which they can gain experience with innovative, unique teaching methods. "These settings are not just in schools," Stuchul explains. Students have also worked with social service organizations and other entities that serve children and families. The customization allows them to become very involved in unique teaching situations and gain exposure to cutting edge teaching strategies.

After students select a setting for their alternative experience, they submit a proposal explaining the goals they expect to fulfill through their service. The experiences in the alternative setting take place during the January short term. They are completed prior to the students’ Professional Term' that is, before their intensive student teaching process. The hands-on experience gained during that short term greatly strengthens the students’ learning and achievement during the Professional Term.

So far, only one class of Berea seniors has completed the alternative setting experience. In January of 2001, these students served in a variety of settings—teaching on a reservation in Arizona, working with inner city children in Cincinnati, and learning education techniques in Denmark. In the fall, senior education studies students worked on proposals for their alternative setting experiences, which took place in January 2002. They are the second class of students to go through the revised program.

Mechelle Hamblin of Williamsburg, Ky., is a physical education and health major who has already spent one short term in an alternative teaching setting. Last January, she visited Denmark, where she taught basketball skills to students from kindergarten age to forty years old. She worked in schools and through youth leagues. In addition to physical education, she taught some English language and American history classes. "It was my first time out of the U.S.," she recalls. "While in Denmark, I learned so much about my own country!" This January, Hamblin traveled to the White Bear Lake School District in Minnea-polis, Minn., where she worked with an adapted physical education program for special needs students.

Melissa McManis, a secondary math education major from Lancaster, Oh., was looking for an experience close to her hometown, where she hopes to return for her career. She wants to serve adult students who are working to get their GED’s. "My goal," says Melissa, "is to explore the differences between public and private institutions."

Tony Graves of Lexington, Ky., a technology education major, spent his short term in the modular lab at Madison Middle School near Berea. He chose the school because of its approach to technology teaching as facilitation. "As a facilitator, I spend less time lecturing," he explains. "I have more one-on-one contact with students to meet their special needs. It’s a different teaching style that I want to learn more about."

"I want to work with groups of children who are normally left behind by regular public schools,"says April Schill, a physical education and health major from Arlington, Va. Teaching at alternative schools in the D.C. area, Schill worked with an art-focused curriculum designed for disabled children. She also gained experience teaching Hispanic children, and has taken Spanish classes. When she first came to Berea, Schill wasn’t positive she wanted to be a classroom teacher. "This program changed my mind about teaching," she says. "Working with kids hands-on has set my career course."

Berea’s rigorous new education program is attracting more students as the demand for teachers grows in the United States. Beginning teachers are entering a field that requires constant adaptation as communities and education needs evolve. New standards for teachers require them to address.

multiple perspectives and diversity. They must become collaborators who bring the broader community into the classroom. Berea’s hands-on program is providing future teachers with the skills and confidence they need to meet the challenges of today’s education system. Mechelle Hamblin expresses her appreciation of the hands-on approach: "We have all kinds of opportunities to go places and learn new techniques. All we have to do is step outside the box."

Do you know of a school or institution withh a unique approach to education?

Contact Oliver Keels or Dana Stuchul at the Berea College Department of Education Studies, CPO 2195, Berea, KY 40404; 859.985.3072 to recommend it as a site for an alternative professional experience. Alumni may also volunteer to host students that are spending their alternative experience in an alum's hometown.