Cadet Teachers Learn By Experience
by Tonja Talley
Is teaching an art? Is teaching a learned skill? Kara Johnson, a CGHSsenior and Cadet teacher, believes teaching is a little bit of both. “It is somewhat an art in that teachers need to be creative in their lesson planning. They need to think of the attention span of their grade level and the individual students within it. Sometimes it comes natural; sometimes it needs a little experience and training,” Kara said with assurance.
According to Becky Kaylor, CGHS Family and Consumer Sciences teacher, the education professions class at the high school, also known as Cadet Teaching, reflects on the importance of giving seniors like Kara, who is interested in becoming a future teacher, prevocational information and experience. “Juniors interested in being a Cadet in their senior year reach out to a CG elementary or middle school teacher to be their cooperating teacher. During the following year, these teachers are asked to give the senior a chance to observe the class, work with the teacher’s logs, assist students with questions, plus prepare and present a lesson plan,” said Kaylor.
Vicki House, a second-grade cooperating teacher from Pleasant Grove Elementary, rates the program as excellent. “[These Cadets] bring a new energy to the classroom that relates well with the younger students,” House said. “I try to allow the Cadet to be involved with every aspect of teaching possible; it gives them the chance to see if this is truly their field of study or not.”
Donning a new purple unicorn necklace given to her by one of the students, Kara beamed as she talked about “her” students. She talked of their successes in the classroom. “I have seen the students struggle with understanding what they are reading or the connection of words in a sentence. But then I get to witness the excitement of accomplishment in their eyes when they understand it. Well, I didn’t realize when I started how attached you can get to these students. You want them to succeed,” Kara said. “I have known since seventh grade that I want to be an elementary teacher. This experience has just reinforced it,” she added.
Tommy Maxwell, another one of the 28 Cadets in the EP class this year, agrees with Kara’s statement. “I have felt blessed by this entire experience because I have the opportunity to touch the lives of all my students. If my presence in the classroom has helped one student, I will have accomplished one of my goals.”
When Tommy’s coordinating teacher, Debbie Shaw, a first-grade teacher also from PGE, was asked how this program is beneficial to a high school student, her response dealt with one word: opportunity. “It allows that student to spend an extended period of time in the classroom, giving the student an opportunity to see many aspects of a teacher’s day.”
According to Tommy, he has embraced this opportunity, even grabbing the chance to work in the classroom for a full day. Tommy summed up that last full day before Christmas break this way: “I felt exhausted but exhilarated all at the same time. From the reindeer food craft we made to the math stations to the reading wall word testing and on to individual assignments — spelling tests, math papers, etc., it made for a jam-packed day.”
The preparation and presentation of a lesson plan also proves to be a time of enlightenment for the Cadets. Kara based her lesson plan around the second-graders’ weekly story words. “It was hard work,” Kara said of preparing her lesson plan. “But the lesson plans we are to write are important. In my situation, it gave me a chance to apply what I have learned from both Mrs. Kaylor and Mrs. House. And from the reaction of my second-graders, my lesson plan must have been a success.”
As these seniors take their steps up the stage to receive their diplomas in May, Kaylor hopes all the Cadets will not think about whether teaching is an art or a learned skill, but will take with them, “the knowledge that they have found a passion to teach, remembering their Cadet Teaching and their first class of students.”
