WEDDINGTON — She’s been out of elementary school for seven years, and in four years, she’ll be qualified to go back.

Weddington senior Libby Nichols started middle school with more than math and reading skills. Her former teachers taught her to sit patiently while learning, be quiet while others are talking and raise her hand to ask a question.

“They taught me so much, and I don’t even think they know they did.”

Nichols wants to be that kind of teacher — one to shape students into kind and considerate adults, relating to them with her own experiences.

Nichols, along with 18 other juniors and seniors, is part of Weddington’s first teacher cadet program. Some entered the class knowing they don’t want to teach, but seeking skills they can use in related careers; others have dreamed about teaching since they first started school.

English and public speaking teacher Scotti Youngman leads the program. In her 14th year of teaching, she said the class gives the cadets “a real view” of the teaching profession. The focus is on “areas of child development and how they pertain to learning, ... ourselves as learners and how to address different learning styles.”

Youngman compares it to a “hands-on” introductory education course in college.

In October, the class went to Target to complete an assignment. They picked out toys appropriate for children at various developmental stages, then explained their selections.

After Thanksgiving break, the class will work with Weddington Elementary students.

Nancy Dillon, assistant principal of Weddington Elementary, said teachers there are always willing to support the high school. Cadets will not grade papers or take over teachers’ major responsibilities, she said, but shadow and observe to learn classroom basics.

Youngman said the goal of the program is to produce quality teachers for North Carolina.

“You learn more about yourself than anything, ... the way you learn and the way you can teach,” Nichols said.

So far, the cadets have covered cognitive, moral, social and physical development, mostly in elementary-age students. A couple of cadets want to teach middle school, but most are leaning toward elementary school.

Senior Sarah Maness said children that age are “innocent and eager to learn and so easily molded by the things outside of them.” The way they are brought up “can change who they are.” Maness hopes to be a child psychologist or school guidance counselor.

Her classmate Kabrel Pavelich doesn’t want to teach, but said she can apply the class material when baby-sitting, caring for her three younger siblings or working as a nanny in the summer.

Like a couple of others, Pavelich signed up for the class thinking she would be a teacher assistant.

Youngman said she will promote the program more for next semester so students know what to expect; she hopes to attract a more diverse class.

The class consists of 19 girls. There was a boy the first week, Youngman said, but he has dropped the program. As the program builds, program coordinators plan to give registration priority to boys and minorities. Most teachers, Youngman said, are early- to middle-age white women.

“It’s sort of traditionally been women who are teaching,” she said, adding that women are perceived as “more nurturing.” Elementary school teachers often teach for love of kids, she said, and high school teachers often teach for love of their subject areas.

Like Pavelich, some cadets had no intention of teaching at all.

“I didn’t want to be a teacher and now I think I do,” junior Jennifer Millet said.

Some can’t wait to have their own classrooms.

“I could be around little kids all day and seriously be the happiest person in the world,” senior Kristen Murphy said. Murphy, the middle of five children, plans to major in elementary education in college. She said the class is giving her a “head start.”

Most cadets shy away from teaching middle school.

“They’re really hyper a lot, which is fine, ... but they can be hard to work with sometimes,” senior Lindsay Hartman said. Hartman has a brother in middle school and works with middle school cheerleaders, but said teaching a class is different.

Katie Austin has it narrowed down to third grade. Children that age aren’t so young that it’s baby-sitting, she said, but “they don’t think they are the center of everything.” Austin’s mother is a teacher’s assistant, and if Austin weren’t a teacher, “I don’t know what else I would do.”

Some cadets are worried about finding a job after high school, but aren’t giving up on their passion.

As junior Sarah Harvey put it, “I love working with kids, and it’s interesting to see what they can become.”

Senior Allison Ramsey said she wants to be a teacher more now than when she started the class in August. “It helps you know who you are more, and ... I think you need to know who you are before you can mold someone else.”

Ramsey was voted class clown this year. Teaching is one career option, she said, entertaining is another. Ramsey description of why she would be a good teacher set the class off in a laughing fit; she wrapped it up by noting that good teachers entertain, too.

Math and reading are important subjects, she added, but a teacher must be able to relate to her students. “You have your own life. You had your own struggles as a kid,” she said, and pointing that out can have a big impact.

Cadet program also offered at Parkwood, Sun Valley

By Tiffany Lane

Staff Writer

The teacher cadet program is also offered at Sun Valley and Parkwood high schools.

Parkwood was the first to have the program, followed by Sun Valley a few years ago.

Sun Valley teacher Dee Cogdell teaches 15 cadets — only one boy. One student is in level two of the program. Each level grants more independence in teaching, but Cogdell said her school’s program is still developing.

One benefit to the program, Cogdell said, is showing students how much preparation goes into teaching — from grading papers to attending faculty meetings. Her students also spend time tutoring, teaching lessons and decorating bulletin boards.

Jean Patterson leads the Parkwood teacher cadets. The French teacher works with about 20 students, most of them in level one. All students are in the same class, but a few take on advanced assignments.

Those in levels two or three visit classrooms within the first few days of the semester; level one students make the transition within a few weeks.

Patterson said she wasn’t in a classroom until her senior year of college, a late date to find out whether she liked the reality of teaching. For her own students, she said the classroom will teach them more than lecturing will.

She added that a student’s preferred grade could have a lot to do with their experiences in class.

Weddington has focused on elementary school so far, Parkwood on elementary and middle and Sun Valley mostly on high school. The students’ interests typically correspond with the grades they focus on.

Still, Cogdell said some of her students are begging to visit an elementary school.

Assignments also vary.

Patterson’s assignments range from watching educational videos and writing a synopsis to finding 10 Web sites educators can use. Her class took a trip to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to attend teaching sessions, where topics included using music and drama in the classroom and teaching inner city children.

She said her class, including only three boys, seems to gravitate toward teaching upper elementary school students.

Weddington’s program offers only level one, but teacher cadet coordinator Scotti Youngman said she hopes to offer level two next semester. A dozen of her students said they would take the extra course, which would assign each of them to an elementary or middle school teacher. They would spend most of their class time student teaching.

Youngman said she wishes her high school had offered a cadet program; she would have been much more prepared for college and her first years as a teacher. The workplace also has a lot to do with a teacher’s experience, she said.

Youngman’s first two years teaching were “horrible,” and the next two only slightly better. Then she switched school districts.

“When I came to Union County, I thought, ‘This is what it was supposed to be like.’ ... It was like a whole different profession.”