Joyce Herold was only 22 when she earned her masters in secondary education from West Virginia University, but even as she was donning her cap and gown, she was already feeling like a savvy, well-prepared teacher.
The 2005 graduate of the College of Human Resources and Education came through WVU s Benedum Collaborative Model of Teacher Education, a unique, five-year, intensive course of study that puts teachers-to-be in front of the classroom for the entire run of their schooling.
Today, shes the academic coordinator for Upward Bound at Prince Georges Community College in Largo, Md., working one-on-one with prospective low-income and first-generation college students and others from different walks also looking at higher education for the first time.
She now puts into practice daily what she learned in the Benedum program at WVU . Its grads emerge with an already earned advanced degree and the kind of in-the-trenches experience that a student can only get by teaching.
I couldnt have been better prepared for a teaching career,said Herold, a New York City native who logged her student teaching at Suncrest Middle School in Morgantown and North Marion High in Farmington.
By the time I graduated,she said,I had encountered almost every kind of in-class experience, from modifying lesson plans to dealing with student crises.
That very effective way WVU trains its budding educators will be bolstered by a federal grant totaling more than $750,000 that will be used to recruit math and science majors into teaching their expertise in rural schools across West Virginia.
The grant through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program is designed to get those committed majors in science, technology and math (orSTEM,as theyre grouped in academia) in front of public school classrooms, so youngsters can enjoy the full benefit of learning and instruction in those disciplines.
Celebrating the mission, sharing the effort
Education professionals from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences teamed up with their College of Human Resources and Education counterparts to land the grant.
Kasi Jackson, assistant professor of womens studies at Eberly College, was the grants principal investigator.
She was joined by Michelle Withers, assistant professor of biology, and David Miller, assistant professor of mathematics, on the Eberly end; and they linked with College of Human Resources and Education curriculum professors Johnna Bolyard and Jeffrey Carver for the classroom instruction particulars of the grant.
Scholarships will be provided for 20 students to complete the Benedum collaborative five-year teacher education program. Scholarship recipients earn a STEM bachelor’s degree, as well as a masters degree in education upon completing the program.
Jackson and company also worked on the proposal with the West Virginia Center for Professional Development and the states Regional Education Service Agencies III , V, VII and VIII .
The grants main objective is to getSTEM students thinking like teachers,Jackson said. Thats a critical consideration because theres a noticeable absence of them on K-12 faculty rolls across the Mountain State right now, she noted.
There just arent enough math and teachers to hire,Jackson said.More and more, schools are going with �€~out of fieldauthorizations to get teachers in those classrooms. And they might know how to teach, but they dont always know how to teach math and science. Thats not fully serving the youngsters in the seats.
The deans of the Eberly College and College of Human Resources and Education naturally agree.
Attracting students to the STEM disciplines, particularly underrepresented minorities, is a national imperative,Eberly College Dean Mary Ellen Mazey said.This type of collaborative project is indicative of the important interdisciplinary work happening at within the Eberly College and at WVU , and I want to commend everyone involved.
Its about educators filling a critical need,College of Human Resources and Education Dean Dee Hopkins said.Its about advancing the sense of wonder and joy of learning. Its about really making a difference in a young students life.