Mansfield high schoolers intern at this unique preschool, study teaching careers
Throughout Tarrant County and Texas, high schoolers are weighing possible careers as educators through pathway programs that give them hands-on experience. In the Mansfield Independent School District, a handful of high school students have chosen to intern at a pre-K campus with a unique curriculum.
Four Mansfield ISD high schoolers enrolled in the district’s career and technical education pathway interact with pre-kindergarten students at Dr. Sarah Jandrucko Early Learners Academy two to three times a week, gaining real-world education experience. They learn about topics such as human growth and child development through their studies and apply that knowledge when interning with 4-year-old students who are setting their early learning foundation. Their classroom experiences, though, are different from story time on a multicolored carpet or role playing as a chef in a light wood-colored kitchen.
On a recent Thursday, the four interns at Jandrucko Early Learners Academy worked with preschoolers in classrooms each designed around individual, immersive experiences. Sixteen classrooms are decorated in various ways to curate learning spaces children might encounter on field trips. High school interns get a front row seat to this innovative curriculum.
Senior Tabitha Rice helped students create a “farm stew” by counting hay bales, beans and pigs in a classroom with learning activities focused on farming and food services. Senior Brynley Cowan guided students on writing and spelling their name in a tropics-themed space with lookalike greenery, bamboo and parrots. Senior Harper Hargrove practiced alliteration against the backdrop of Jupiter as students adventured through space. In the Wonderland classroom, junior Josiah Hall and a student observed a bearded dragon basking in its enclosure on a castle-shaped shelf.
“The biggest difference in what we do: there’s no worksheets allowed. Everything’s hands-on and play-based, but it all starts with a standard,” said Ashton Oliver, the district’s director of early childhood. “We do professional learning tours, and people come from all over the country. We’ve had over 10,000 visitors come.”
The student interns are a key part in making sure the preschool model is successful, Oliver added.
“I feel all of our teachers are master teachers here just because of what we do. But very specifically who we pair the interns with is important because we’re investing in the next group of educators that are going to come through, and we don’t take that lightly,” Oliver said.
Rice, one of the interns, wants to become a high school teacher, but she chose to work with preschoolers to see how their educational journey begins. At Jandrucko Early Learners Academy, she’s learned how to build an environment that serves different learning styles and how to pinpoint erratic behavior.
“I thought it’d be good to see where the kids start and see kind of where they get their first experience in education,” Rice said. “Helping better the future generations just is something that I really look forward to and I really want to do with my life.”
Statewide programs help build teacher pipeline
The impacts of the career and technical program are multi-faceted: High schoolers test drive a role as an educator, primary teachers receive assistance in the classroom and young students have access to an additional role model. In a time when districts are facing teacher shortages while high schoolers might be deterred from pursuing education careers due to conversations around pay and burnout, career pathway programs like Mansfield ISD’s help build a teacher pipeline that incentivizes graduates to return to their alma maters as employees.
Across Texas, students in education and training pathways like Mansfield ISD’s can receive a paraprofessional certification by the time they graduate and are guaranteed an interview in their home district after earning their teacher certification.
“Most oftentimes, students who are in education and training (pathways) will go and teach back within a 20-mile radius of their hometown,” said Monica Oliver, state director of the Texas Association of Future Educators, or TAFE.
She noted how these pathways, alongside other professional development opportunities students can access through TAFE, help shape a student’s vision for their career in education.
“We see a wide range. I do see kids who really want to work with the younger preschool to kindergarten, elementary-age students, and I see the ones that want to do secondary, which is middle school and high school,” Monica Oliver said. “But I also see kids who come in thinking they want to teach high school, and then ultimately decide that they want to go into public education advocacy and end up advocating for public education at the government level. I’ve seen it change over time.”
Vicki Polson, education and training teacher at Ben Barber Innovation Academy in Mansfield ISD, said students can intern across multiple elementary campuses across the district beyond Jandrucko Early Learners Academy. In addition to completing her high school coursework, the interns are also completing college-level coursework through Tarleton State University’s dual-enrollment program. They can graduate with up to nine college credit hours.
“I just think it’s a great opportunity for kids to get information, to see what they’re good at, to make a decision that’s informed,” Polson said. “Some of my students (say), ‘Oh, I can see how this can apply to the classroom. I can see how this applies to my life.’ If they don’t decide to be a certified teacher at least, then they can see, ‘Oh, I need to make sure I do this as a parent or as an aunt or an uncle’ about how they’re going to interact with young people in their life.”
Hall, another high school intern, said he enjoys seeing the preschoolers’ eagerness to learn, as the passion to learn can start to fade as students grow older. Hall is considering a career as a fifth-grade science teacher after he graduates from college. His plan is to play college football and then become a coach part-time while he teaches.
“You can see it on the kids’ faces that you can make an impact,” Hall said. “They’re genuinely excited to see you, and they’re all so excited to come to school.”
