High school students with a goal of becoming a teacher received an exceptional experience at the Price School of Education at Reinhardt University last Friday.
The “Sneak Peek into Education” is a free program, available to any high school class in the Education as a profession pathway.
Highlights of the experience were hands-on opportunities to do what a teacher does in a classroom. Students from Sequoyah High School’s Teacher Cadet Program used the Scarborough Reading Rope to learn the science of reading to help teach kids to read. They learned interactive technology and developing a professional learning network to enhance classroom instruction.
The most powerful event for some was sensory deprivation, as they were blindfolded to experience being a student with a visual impairment.
Erin Griffin, a junior at Reinhardt, plans to be an elementary school teacher. After attending the “Sneak Peek” field trip a few years ago, she and a classmate became determined to pursue teaching and to enroll in the Price School of Education.
“During the field trip I got a campus tour and introductions to professors and education majors. It was a lot of fun. Small class sizes are what really hit it off for me. Reinhardt is not overwhelming. The professors truly care and want to see you do well,” Griffin explained. “It’s not sitting in a seminar with hundreds of kids where they tell you how to teach a child, you’re physically doing it in a classroom in a hands-on approach.”
Griffin has achieved a 4.0 GPA and beamed as she watched other teens experience the field trip. Interim Dean of Education and Professor Tami Smith says students like Griffin exemplify the value of the program, both for them and the university. Smith hopes to see it grow saying, “It’s really good to show high school students what we do in our classrooms.”
