reprinted from The Athenaeum
An internship is a long-standing rite of passage for many college students. Typically completed in the summer of a student's junior or senior year, internships offer students a real-world glimpse of what daily life will be like in their chosen profession. This nuts-and-bolts experience can be positive, making the student happy to have majored in a particular field. Or, it can be negative, giving the student reason to rethink his or her options about further study in that field.
A negative internship experience as a senior can have devastating effects on students who may try to switch majors late in their college careers. But the College of Education at Ohio University works in many ways to give teacher education students positive learning experiences in real-world classroom settings early on in their college life--often in their sophomore years.
One way students' pre-professional teaching experience is enhanced is through the Center for Partnerships. Established in the mid-1980s, the center was created through an effort by faculties in the College of Education and local public schools, who wanted to find a better approach to student teaching and to create a more powerful connection between student teachers and schoolchildren.
"The College of Education faculty and elementary school faculty came together and started asking, 'How can we do things better for the learners? How can the College of Education better help area teachers? How can we be a better resource?' The mission of the Center for Partnerships has always been to address the needs of area learners, especially elementary schoolchildren," explained Ginger Weade, professor of teacher education and director of the Center for Partnerships
The College focuses on constructing knowledge and producing active learners rather than on transmitting knowledge to passive students. The Center for Partnerships reflects this mission in the way it fosters hands-on learning experiences for teacher education students.
The focus of the partnership program is on student placement in local schools and how much time teacher education students spend in those classrooms. The center coordinates with several local public schools, placing each student in one classroom at one school and pairing that student with a mentor teacher for an entire academic year.
Partnership students are able to track the progress of children throughout the school year and put into practice the various learning methods they are taught in college classrooms according to what will work best for children of different ages who have differing needs and learning styles. Mentor teachers help partnership students perfect these learning methods, but best of all, partnership students get a full year of teaching experience under their belts long before they graduate. Plus, all classroom experience is tied to college coursework led by professors and master teachers. These classroom experiences make the College of Education partnership program one of the most intense internship experiences at Ohio University.
The center's emphasis on producing quality teachers has attracted statewide attention. The partnership program was in the spotlight this month, when Hope Taft, first lady of Ohio, visited Chauncey Elementary School to observe tutoring sessions. Last spring Elizabeth Ross, senior education advisor to Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, visited the Athens campus. Ross, who has more than 30 years experience in education and 26 years experience in educational administration, was impressed with the program.
"The fact that Ohio University's partnership program promotes early clinical experience (beginning in the sophomore year), has quality teachers for education majors to mentor with, and allows for an understanding of the entire operation of a school and what's involved politically makes a big difference in the quality of teachers being trained at Ohio University," she said.
Junior Julie Spero, a partnership student at The Plains Elementary, says the program has provided her the powerful connection to student teaching that it was designed to give.
"Spending so much time at the school has been a real eye-opener," Spero said. "I am getting to know what to expect from my student teaching and for when I have a job as a teacher. I'm tired when I come home from teaching, but it's so worth it. I love being there."
Lee Shai, a graduate student, teaches three second-grade classes a day at East Elementary School in Athens on top of her graduate coursework. Shai said the preparation time for lessons is daunting, but there is nothing else she would rather be doing.
"I put everything into my fellowship teaching at East because I want to do the most for my students," she said, adding, "I get so much fulfillment from teaching. The kids amaze me. I hope I can impact their lives in some way."
