Realizing a nationwide need for high-quality educators, Superintendent Jenkins wanted to provide a program to attract OCPS high school students to the teaching profession. It would provide them with a strong foundation of the skills needed to be successful, while getting a head start on their college degree. In August 2018, this program took root at Edgewater High as the Center for Future Educators magnet, and the inaugural cohort of 10 students will graduate this month. Led by CFE Coordinator and Instructor Linda Eneas, the students have completed the required course progression that includes four high school classes: Introduction to the Teaching Profession; Human Growth
17706
Cultivating Future Educators
and Development; Foundations of Curriculum and Instruction; and Principles of Teaching. Additionally, the students have taken Introduction to the Teaching Profession and Diversity in Education or Art and Wellness through the Valencia College's dual-enrollment program. There is a heavy emphasis on engagement, versus a “sit-and-get” method of learning. Eneas, an OCPS teacher for 10 years, models how to manage response rates and effective cooperative learning by utilizing techniques, such as inside-outside circle and think, pair, share. She also empowers students to conduct a teachback lesson that practices what they have learned.
Orange Peal
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