Dexter Community Schools and Concordia Ann Arbor University have established a relationship that has become a win-win for both, and it starts with learning to teach.

To get a better idea of ​​this collaboration, The Sun Times News reached out to Dr. Sara Clemm von Hohenberg, secondary education coordinator at Concordia University Ann Arbor.

She said this beneficial partnership has several areas to highlight.

One has local teachers who open their classrooms to Concordia teacher candidates, so candidates can learn from master teachers, and candidates in turn support master teachers by providing additional instruction and assistance. in their class.

Another area is how Concordia helps address teacher shortages by training local people to serve in the classroom.

For example, Clemm von Hohenberg said Concordia has a teacher candidate who taught at Creekside Middle School last semester and just stepped in to fill a vacancy at Mill Creek Middle School.

In a third area of ​​collaboration, 48 Concordia teacher candidates are teaching Mill Creek students about mental health and well-being through one-on-one workshops.

STN asked Clemm von Hohenberg how this connection was made.

“The Concordia School of Education is founded on the principle of building relationships,” she said. “It’s one of the main attributes we teach students in all of our classes, but also how we approach our relationships within the community.”

She said: “Schools in Dexter have a long history of successfully educating children and Concordia was delighted to be part of this process. We started by reaching out to principals and telling them about the valuable role our students could play in helping teachers across the district. These relationships then grew into a mutually beneficial partnership where our students support and serve alongside district teachers who guide them and model effective teaching. »

To get Dexter Schools’ perspective on the relationship, STN connected with Jane Webby, a sixth-grade teacher at Creekside, who had teacher candidates in her class.

“I remember (a long time ago!) when I was a student teacher, fieldwork in schools was the ultimate learning experience,” Webby said. “Nothing really replaces working with children. No manual can teach you what it really is. I believe it is important to “give back” to the profession, which has given you so much. If we want teachers to continue entering the profession, we must open our doors and let them in.

She said at Dexter Schools: “Student teachers come to us at various stages of their development. »

“At the moment, I have a second one who works in my class one day a week,” she explains. “On the other hand, I recently worked with a student teacher who was finishing his end-of-studies internship before entering the profession. This involved several months of teaching together!

Elaborating on the matter, she said, “We also cannot underestimate what student teachers bring to our classroom, as they have so much to offer us.”

“Students come with knowledge of recent ideas in education, including advances in technology,” she explains. “I’ve also seen the wonderful connections student teachers make with the kids in my class. I was also fortunate to have student teachers who are part of the sports program at Concordia University. It was great to see the kids throwing a soccer ball with my student teacher! Part of the class also went to see the student teacher play at a home game.

The football player was 23-year-old Andrew Foerster, a graduate of Concordia Ann Arbor University with a high school social studies degree. He played football at CUAA where he was an All-American Defensive End.

He told STN he wanted to be a teacher “because I wanted to help impact the lives of young adults, like some of my teachers did for me growing up.”

“The Dexter community should know that this great connection not only makes Concordia students better teachers, but also attracts those teachers to the district,” Foerster said. “My experience as a student teacher in Ms. Webby’s sixth grade class has been incredible. I really appreciated the students, the staff and the community as a whole. I loved it so much that I decided to take a long-term teaching position at Mill Creek, just so I could be a part of this great community.

With first-hand experience, Foerster explained the collaboration.

“The way the relationship between the teacher candidate and host teacher works is that the host teacher (Dexter Schools teacher) will “teach” the teacher candidate their teaching styles, how to manage a class and how to communicate with students. The teacher-candidate will then practice some of these classroom management styles and strategies in the host-teacher’s classroom.

Clemm von Hohenberg said Concordia students do fieldwork each week in a teacher’s classroom. She said they are there to help teachers with anything they might need.

“Some teachers ask the Concordia student to lead story time or work with students in small groups or provide one-on-one instruction to struggling students,” she said. “Hosting a Concordia student means the teacher has an extra pair of eyes and hands in their classroom while the Concordia student can practically apply their knowledge in a real-life classroom.”

Of the partnership in the classroom, Foerster said, “It not only helps the teacher candidate who is trying to become a teacher, but it also helps the students because they get extra instruction.”

“When I was in class with Ms. Webby, it was an amazing experience,” he said. “I was able to learn a lot not only from his strategies and methods, but also from the students. Relationships are the most important thing in teaching. During this time, you learn to build good relationships with students, parents, staff and the community as a whole. »

Regarding the mental health aspect of the collaboration, Clemm von Hohenberg said Concordia students worked in groups of four to create hands-on 45-minute presentations for the Wellness Workshop day at Mill. Creek. She said each group researches the needs of middle schoolers and then develops interactive seminars ranging from mental health awareness to successful stress management to healthy eating tips to fuel your body.

Mill Creek students are allowed to choose which workshops they wish to attend, there are four sessions.

Concordia students will not only be able to educate the public about healthy habits, but also gain authentic teaching practice in the process, said Clemm von Hohenberg.

She described this partnership as truly “a win-win situation! »