Student teachers getting real-life experience in Sedalia schools

They’ve spent the last three years hitting the books in college classrooms learning the ins and outs of education. Now, a group of student teachers are entering the classroom to put that knowledge to the test in front of students.

According to Superintendent Harriet Wolfe, a dozen student teachers are working toward their degrees by completing hours in schools located throughout Sedalia School District 200.

Wolfe said the future educators are teaching everything from art to math.

Five of those teachers have been placed at Horace Mann Elementary School. Four of them are seeking degrees from the University of Central Missouri, while the other is enrolled in an extended studies program at State Fair Community College through a partnership with Central Methodist University.

According to www.ucmo.edu, students seeking a degree in elementary education are required to participate in early field clinical experiences prior to student teaching. Early childhood and elementary majors also are required to student teach for 14 weeks which earns them 12 semester credit hours.

Sheena Bryant, a 23-year-old student at UCM, is doing her student teaching hours in a kindergarten classroom at Horace Mann where she is observing and helping out the teacher.

Bryant is majoring in early childhood development and elementary education. “My mom and step-dad were both teachers,” Bryant said, “and I really like kids.”

Bryant said she has been surprised that the young students have to be taught to line up and how to get a drink.

“That’s stuff you don’t’ think about,” she said. “The classroom can’t prepare you for everything.”

Bryant said she also has been amazed by the children’s responses. While discussing the importance of attendance with the kindergartners, Bryant said one student emphatically told her teachers she would not be in school on Christmas.

Amanda Craig, a 23-year-old double major at UCM, also is working with a group of kindergarten students. Craig said she hasn’t decided what age group she would like to teach after graduation, but she is enjoying her current students.

“I like their spontaneity,” she said.

Craig said she realized she wanted to become a teacher after tutoring other students while she was attending Smith-Cotton High School.

“I really liked that experience,” she said.

Ashley Pittman, another 23-year-old double major from UCM, is working with third- grade students at Horace Mann. She said she likes the age group because they are independent.

“They know what they like,” she said.

Pittman has found her role as student teacher comfortable because she has spent several years as a substitute teacher in the district. Pittman decided to become a teacher after years of watching her mother run an in-home day care.

“She ran it like a preschool” Pittman said. “I also had a great teacher in fourth grade and I wanted to be like her.”

Pittman said she hopes the students she instructs this year will know she has high expectations because she knows they can succeed.

Michelle Sparks, 40, and her daughter-in-law Tisha Sparks, 25, are both completing their student teaching requirements at Horace Mann.

Tisha Sparks, who is in the extended studies program at SFCC, said she has been assigned to teach second-graders, which is her grade of choice.  

“By second grade the students have an understanding of what is expected of them,” she said, “but they still love their teacher.”

Tisha Sparks said she enjoys working with the students on their writing skills because it gives the students the opportunity to express themselves.

“Writing is my favorite subject,” she said, “so, it is my favorite to teach as well.”

Michelle Sparks went to school at Horace Mann as a fifth-grader and her daughter attended the school as well. She said she has many fond memories of the school and is enjoying her time as a student teacher.

Michelle Sparks has spent the last decade in the district substituting in a variety of positions from teacher to secretary. She decided to return to college in 2006 to complete her degree.

“It’s challenging to be a nontraditional student,” she said. “There is so much to learn and so much new technology.”

She got her first classroom experience with some of that technology, in the form of a SMART board, when she taught her first math lesson as a student teacher.

“I was a little nervous,” she said.

Michelle Sparks brought several items to help with her lesson on measurements including a bag of dog food to show kilograms, a box of Hamburger Helper to show grams and bananas to represent pounds.

“I tried to associate everyday life to get them thinking,” she said. “I think it worked.”

Michelle Sparks is working with a group of fourth-graders, an age group she calls “funny” because they want to be treated like an older child but yet they are still attention-seekers.

Her goal is to find work as a first or second grade teacher after graduation.

Michelle Sparks said the most rewarding part of being an educator is the discovery.

“Teaching is an adventure,” she said. “I love when the light goes on.”