Active Learning Inspires Active Learners

By Stacey Walters

Charged with leading young minds and shaping future leaders, fourth-year Patton College of Education student Dylan Morris has loved teaching for as long as he can remember. As a teacher’s aide during his freshman year of high school in Bardstown, Ky., he witnessed the difficult situations that young students experienced and discovered there was no better feeling than being able to give support and watch them thrive.

When arriving on “the hill,” Morris immersed himself into student life as a member of the University of Pikeville’s men’s tennis team. Once he was faced with choosing a career path, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. “Children in today’s society deal with so many difficult situations, and I want to help educate this new generation and leave a positive impact on my students,” said Morris. “Since going through college, I have gotten to observe and work with so many students, and each time it reminds me of why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place.”

Morris hopes to ignite a love of learning and establish an opportunity for students to further themselves. He aims to teach upper elementary between third through fifth grades and has learned to build connections with students through his student teaching internship. This fall, Morris was one of four students across the commonwealth to receive the David Watts Future Teacher Excellence Award, given by the Southeast Region Association of Teacher Educators.

“This year, I am doing my fifth-grade student teaching, and I love it. After I graduate, I would love to have the opportunity to teach either in my hometown of Bardstown or stay in the Pikeville area,” Morris said. “I felt honored to be recognized at the conference with the future teacher award. It was very humbling and reassured me that veteran teachers see the potential in the next generation of educators. It motivates me to continue to be the best teacher I can be.”

His professors at UPIKE do not lecture from textbooks or measure learning with multiple-choice tests. Instead, they model the strategies students would use as a teacher to create learning opportunities that enable students like Morris to apply knowledge in actual teaching situations. Associate Professor of Education Theresa Dawahare, M.Ed., helped provide a powerful set of lenses through which to view the classroom by creating active learning classrooms on campus.

“Students can use active learning classrooms to maximize active, collaborative learning, helping them to have an authentic classroom experience without being in an actual school,” said Dawahare. “We have found that our clinical students are better prepared and confident when entering the classroom. It is a dream come true.”

The vision for the classrooms was to have a space where PCOE pre-service teachers could learn how to plan centers and move around a classroom easily while teaching. They are equipped with a Dell 85-inch interactive touch monitor, a document camera, flexible seating, a reading center, a computer center and a teacher center where students can learn how to individualize instruction.

Morris has experienced firsthand the benefit of utilizing active learning classrooms.

“The active learning classrooms are not set up like a typical lecture hall. They have flexible seating arrangements, smartboards, and individual whiteboards for students to use the content and vocabulary on the walls around them,” said Morris. “These rooms allow students to take responsibility for their learning and also cater to any teaching style and strategy that the professor or students want to integrate into the classroom.”

Morris is an asset to his classmates, serving as a fourth-year tutor on campus and a third-year resident assistant (RA). He received the RA Unsung Hero Award in 2022 for always assisting other RAs with different programs and supplies.

“Dylan enjoys tutoring because it helps him master certain skills that he will use during teaching, such as breaking content down into simpler terms to help the student understand the content,” said Dawahare. “He is confident, always ready to engage in discussion and uses these roles to hone his teaching skills.”

This past year, Morris also served as the events coordinator for the Kentucky Education Association Student Program, hosting events for students in education and various volunteer work with the local food pantry, along with tutoring third graders at Pikeville Elementary School. He has participated in Student Government Association and is involved with Campus for Change and the Diversity Board on campus.

Ready to take on a career in teaching, Morris plans to apply the valuable life lessons he gained while studying at PCOE to his own classroom one day. One of his favorite quotes about education is from the revered Nelson Mandela, who states, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

The more Morris understands the education field, he realizes that his development will be an ongoing quest of a lifelong learning adventure to become a better teacher.

“Through the PCOE program, I have overcome my fear of public speaking and am confident in my ability to lead a classroom. They are preparing me to be the best teacher I can be,” said Morris. “Teachers are the future. Education is constantly changing, evolving and growing. The world needs more teachers.”

The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) recently announced that the Patton College of Education is one of 32 providers from 16 states for leadership and commitment to excellence. As a result of providing evidence and data trends to achieve accreditation with no stipulations or areas for improvement, PCOE received the 2022 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement.

The Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement is named after the founding President of the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC). CAEP was created by consolidating the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and TEAC. A key advocate for educator preparation standards to unify the profession and instrumental in the merger that created CAEP, Murray also served as Chairman of the Board for TEAC and was an initial member of the CAEP Board of Directors.

CAEP accreditation serves the dual purposes of accountability and continuous improvement. Including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, 471 educator preparation providers in 45 states have been accredited under the CAEP Standards. The CAEP accreditation process evaluates providers’ performance and focuses particularly on whether candidates will be prepared, by completion, for the challenging responsibilities that educators face in America’s classrooms.

“Seeking CAEP accreditation has been an intensive, multi-year process, but continuous improvement of our education programs has always been our top priority,” said PCOE Director of Teacher Education and Associate Professor of Education Coletta Parsley, Ed.D. “Meeting the rigorous CAEP Standards for Educator Preparation has helped us obtain that goal and validates the high quality of our programs. Being a recipient of the 2022 Frank Murray Leadership Recognition for Continuous Improvement demonstrates our deep commitment to excellence in educator preparation and the high standards that we have met. Therefore, our current and prospective students can have confidence in the quality of our teacher education programs in successfully preparing them for P-12 classrooms.”