For the past four years, Arkansas High School’s Educators Rising program has taught students the basics of what a career as a teacher is like. The class does this by shadowing veteran teachers, creating lesson plans, and developing personal classroom management skills. Earlier this month, the program’s current seniors competed at the Educators Rising National Competition held in Orlando, Florida.
The program has been on campus since the current sponsor, Monica McLelland, implemented it. Students have competed at nationals for four consecutive years; however, this year marks the first time any student from Arkansas High School has been recognized on the national stage, with Shamia Young and Nevaeh Walker advancing as semi-finalists in the Researching Learning Challenges competition.
“My competition was researching learning challenges, specifically cerebral palsy, and to prepare for it, I had to research what the disease was and how it affected children,” Shamia explained. “My teammate and I also looked at the historical and social aspect of it, and we researched ways that we could have an inclusive atmosphere at the school and for students with cerebral palsy.”
To reach nationals, however, is a journey that spans the entire school year, with preparations beginning every August and continuing until the State-Level Competition is held in April. “After the state competition when we won, we had feedback to use to tweak anything we could,” Shamia said. “After we tweaked everything, we went over it as much as we could, by watching new videos and looking at new information, just to prepare ourselves mentally as much as we could.”
Other students also won at the state level, including Morgan Holliman, Quandravious Mixon, and Lanie Lummus, who competed in the Ethical Dilemma Challenge. In this challenge, they analyzed a classroom scenario and discussed how a teacher should respond to it ethically. Ellie Adams was also one of the state winners with her speech explaining why she wanted to pursue a career in education in the Educators Rising Moment. Although many students who have taken the class do not plan on becoming professional educators, those who do take it more seriously.
“This year, it seems like the kids who were in the class all really wanted to be educators,” Monica McLelland explained. “They want to go to college to be teachers. This year, having nine students sign a letter of intent to say that they want to be teachers, that they want to impact the future classrooms, I think that shows how much the kids who are taking the class care.”
The program has created a new generation of educators; yet, despite the name of the class, people who do not want to become teachers can also learn from it. “Even if you don’t want to be an educator in the future, it can be a good backbone or just in case your Plan A doesn’t work out,” Shamia said. “It’ll let you know a lot about what teachers have to go through, especially with having to go to the elementary schools and completing hours: that really puts into perspective how hard teachers really do work. It doesn’t matter if it’s elementary, high school, or middle school, you can begin to learn a lot while you’re in the class.”
The program will continue next year as they prepare to compete nationally in Portland, Oregon. Instructor Monica McLelland is currently fundraising with Tidal Wave Auto Spa. For more information about the fundraiser, please contact McLelland at monica.mclelland@tasd7.net.
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