So You Want To Be A Teacher

By Laurie Borst

At Newtown High School, the year is getting underway. Freshmen are learning their way around the building. Sports teams are kicking off their seasons. And clubs are looking for new members.

The Future Teachers of America (FTA) has been an active club at NHS for at least ten years, according to adviser Kristen Violette. That is how long she has been teaching at NHS and advising the club.

Members come from all grade levels, she said, both boys and girls — mainly girls — join. Club membership has varied between less than ten to a couple dozen students.

Ms Violette said that getting students to meetings is the hard part. “People who want to be teachers are usually involved in everything else, making it hard to find a meeting time,” she said.

A wide variety of activities have been offered to club members, including college visits. Panel discussions are arranged that expose students to many different aspects of education. Past panels have included administrators, new teachers, veteran teachers, elementary/middle school/high school teachers, and guidance counselors.

“We want to expose them to the many choices available. Most girls at this age want to teach K–2,” Ms Violette added.

“FTA has helped my decisionmaking a lot because I got actual field experience with the age group that I was thinking about working with,” said Janine DuBois, FTA president. “In the club, we also talked about different things that had to do with teaching that were helpful when thinking about going into the teaching profession.”

Students have “lab time” during meetings when they can use the Internet to explore the State of Connecticut Department of Education’s website where they can learn about certification, the BEST program, and other issues for teachers.

“We do team-building activities also,” said Ms Violette. “Things like ‘a day in the park’ with outdoor activities.”

In years past, the club has visited ACE, Danbury’s Alternative Center for Education, and learned about high school programs for alternative education.

Students learn about other types of schools, including vocational-agricultural schools, magnet and charter schools. Different philosophies of education, such as Montessori, are introduced.

Community service is a piece of the club’s agenda. They are involved in a mentorship program with Middle Gate School.

“Students go after school, either driving themselves or taking a bus over,” Ms Violette said. “They volunteer in the classrooms. The teachers are very willing to have students in.”

“I think that having the opportunity to go to an elementary school and actually be a part of the classroom was really rewarding,” said Janine. “I was not just observing, but was actually participating and helping the kids out. I also got the opportunity to grade papers, which gave me a chance to see some of the work that they do and see what levels different kids are at.”

NHS’s Future Teachers of America is a member of Future Teachers of Western Connecticut, which offers interdistrict, multicultural collaborations for students.

Western Connecticut State University sponsors a Future Teachers conference in the fall. This November marks the seventh year of the conference, which is put on by the advisers of the clubs taking part and sees about 100 students attending.

“Education Connection helps us manages numbers and creates brochures for the conference,” Ms Violette said.

The conference offers workshops on a number of topics in education; students choose three workshops to attend. WCSU’s Dean of Admissions often is the keynote speaker during lunch.

WCSU Education Club adviser and professor of education Darla Shaw usually offers an artistic workshop that incorporates an element of self-discovery. One workshop found the students tracing their silhouettes and creating collages with items cut from magazines.

Other workshops introduced students to Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences or role playing situations. Attendees are mixed in groups of three, working with students from other schools.

“I really enjoyed going to the Annual FTA conference,” said Janine. “It helped me get an even greater perspective on what being a teacher would be like. I really liked the way it was set up, because even though I was learning, I was having fun at the same time.”