The Future is Now for Teachers of Tomorrow

Future Educators Program Gives Students Fast Track to a Career in Education

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Aug. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Teachers often can cite the spark they experienced when they were students as the reason they became teachers themselves. A future educators program is going one step further, stoking the teaching fire the next generation of educators possesses with real-world, first-hand experience.

On the cusp of welcoming its second cohort, the future educators program at Grand River Preparatory High School is designed to be a fully immersive experience into the daily life of a teacher, including the opportunity to put learning into practice. The goal: take a love for learning and develop it into a passion for teaching, a win-win as students get a glimpse into a potential career pathway and teachers have additional classroom supports.

"The future educator was such a blessing to have in my kindergarten classroom," said Maria Michael, a kindergarten teacher at Ridge Park Charter Academy. "They had a passion for learning the why behind what I do and were quick to step in and try. They very quickly were able to help with a small group in my room."

Future educators gets students into high school classrooms at Grand River Prep as well as National Heritage Academies (NHA) K-8 schools such as Vista Charter Academy and Ridge Park Charter Academy once per week. The first run of future educators began last year with 13 students. As Grand River Prep kicks off the 2024-25 school year, the course will expand to 20 participants.

Included in the program is a dual enrollment piece in which students take an online stress management course through Davenport University in the fall semester. In the second semester, students take a lifespan development online course at Davenport while spending one day per week in placement in the classroom.

The program also includes panel interviews, stress and time management stations, planning for events such as National Mental Health Awareness Week in May, and more. Because the program is in its infancy, students also have a say in developing the future of the program by sharing their observations on what did or didn't work and why. This enables advisors to tweak the program in ways that specifically meet student learning needs.

Jayme McWain, an AP psychology teacher and future educators advisor at Grand River Prep, was impressed with how invested the students were in the development of the class. Their biggest takeaway was they wished they could spend more time working in their placement classrooms because of how much they enjoyed the experience.

Ready to enroll your student? National Heritage Academies operates 100 schools in nine states. Use our school finder to locate one near you: NHA School Finder.

"We got to build this class together," McWain said. "We ended up changing the reading to more of a seminar style and that was really great. We got to talk about things they didn't understand and they did all the development pieces that go with the dual enrollment class, so that was really great."

Having an ownership stake in the development of future educators was evident in the spirit students displayed. And the teachers who welcomed them into their classrooms deeply felt the impact they made.

"They were eager to work with students and form relationships with them," said Amelia Sella, a third grade teacher at Ridge Park. "My students looked forward to their visits on Tuesdays."

Want to learn more about how NHA supports teachers and students to achieve at National Heritage Academies partner-schools? Visit nhaschools.com.

About National Heritage Academies:
National Heritage Academies (NHA) is a network of 100 tuition-free, public charter schools across nine states, serving more than 68,000 students in kindergarten through 12^th grade. For more information, visit nhaschools.com. To find the nearest charter school near you, use the NHA school finder.

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SOURCE National Heritage Academies