Kentucky Teacher

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Kindergarten student Wyatt Blevins and Berea College junior Brandi Mills laugh while playing a word game at Camargo Elementary School (Montgomery County). Photo by Amy Wallot, March 23, 2012

A Berea College elementary education student asked Camargo Elementary 4th-grade teacher Amy Givens if she could take pictures of anchor charts hanging in the 12-year veteran’s classroom. The college student said she had been talking to one of her professors about what she had seen in Givens’ room and how it reminded her of a book she had read in class called Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller.

“It was actually a book I had read, too,” Givens said. “We had a really good conversation about the importance of having a reference that students can refer to in order to remember content. I think it was important for her to realize that a text she was studying in class was being used to impact instruction in an actual classroom.”

But the college student wasn’t a student teacher or observer. She was one of about 20 juniors in Berea College’s elementary educator-preparation program who volunteer in classrooms at the Montgomery County elementary school every Friday.

“I would highly recommend a program like this to others,” Givens said. “It is wonderful to have professional conversations with teacher-prep students. They can bring in new ideas they are learning in the classroom, as well as decrease the student-teacher ratio. My students have had much more small group and one-on-one time as a result. The thought of helping prepare future teachers is also very rewarding.” Read the full story