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Academic spotlight: Education
Savannah Laney '21 did her student teaching at Franklin Forest Elementary School.
Program shapes future educators
The college’s Education graduates make up more than half of the teachers in the Troup County School System, according to Dr. Gretta Milam, Chair of the Education Department.
“Our program has such a great reputation with the system that its human resources office is always asking for more,” she said. “In fact, they keep up with the student teachers in the county so they can get first dibs when the students graduate.”
Such success does not go unnoticed. The program recently had its accreditation renewed, with all standards met.
One of the things lauded during that process was the college’s yearlong student teaching initiative, Dr. Milam said.
“This is the seventh year we've done this. In the past, students spent one semester in a classroom and mostly observed their host teachers, but now they are there for the entire year. It’s a real marriage between student teaching and on-campus instruction.”
The future educators start off their senior year by observing their hosts, then move to parallel teaching before becoming a true team with their hosts by the end of the year, she said.
Dr. Milam said the college strives to have its teaching candidates recognized as a “valued” teacher in the classroom from the very beginning.
“We have reached the point where our early yearlong student teachers are now supervising our current teacher candidates.” The program also has been partnering in recruiting educators through Troup County’s Teacher Pathways Program.
“Prospective Education majors have a chance to visit the campus, talk with current Elementary Education majors and participate in a class with juniors.”
