This semester, English teacher Sheri Seyka started the first Exploring Education class at ELHS.
Seyka based the fourth hour class off of a course piloted by the state of Michigan that includes units such as classroom culture and inclusive teaching practices.
The primary goal of Exploring Education is to give students who are interested in pursuing a career in or learning more about education the chance to do so. Additionally, this class could potentially help to combat the ongoing issue of the teacher shortage.
“I wanted to teach the elective course Exploring Education to share my passion for teaching and learning with others who are interested in the field of education,” Seyka said. “My aim was twofold: firstly, to ignite enthusiasm and awareness about the teaching profession, and secondly, to facilitate an exploration of the factors shaping contemporary education.”
This also gives students the chance to decide if a career in education is something they want for their future. Willow Nischan (12), a student in the 21-person class, is interested in learning about elementary school education but isn’t yet sure if she wants to be a teacher. Nischan’s interest in elementary education grew after she began working with kids through the math mentoring program.
“I really enjoy teaching, so being able to work with more kids is going to be really fun,” Nischan said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be my career but it’s a really fun way to explore that.”
Many students have expressed a common interest in expanding their learning to the elementary schools. Doing this would allow the students to observe the elementary classrooms and become involved.
Issues with logistics with transportation have made this not entirely possible for students. For students to go to the elementary schools they need someone to transport them from the high school to the elementary school and back. Also, the one-hour time frame for all of this to occur is difficult to work with.
Being able to have students go to elementary schools would allow them to learn more because of the different atmospheres of a high school classroom and an elementary school classroom.
Though elementary teaching is popular among those who want to go into education many would much prefer going into secondary education, like Bryce Aho (12).
“I want to be a high school teacher when I’m older,” Aho said. “So I figured it was a good opportunity to start learning about that.”
They are going to start off in the high school classrooms. Seyka is working together with fourth hour teachers to get her students in their classrooms to gain insight from watching and assisting a teacher. So far 20 teachers have opened up their classrooms for these students to take part in. As they learn more about the culture and atmosphere
This class doesn’t include just learn
ing about becoming a teacher but about the education environment as a whole. Being able to expand into
different fields, such as counseling and working in the library, will give students more variety and open up their options to jobs in education other than teaching.
“Ultimately, I aspire for my students to emerge from this course as informed advocates for educational equity and agents of positive change in education and teaching,” Seyka said.
