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FARMINGTON – Four teachers of the year were at the University of Maine at Farmington Tuesday, doing what they do best.
The four instructors, all of whom have won the Maine Teacher of the Year Award, met with pre-service teachers at UMF, in what may be a step toward future collaboration. UMF is well known for its education program, a specialty that goes back to the institution’s founding in 1864 as school to train new teachers. The visit of the four award recipients itself is a result of UMF programming, as three of the four teachers of the year were UMF graduates.
Shelly Moody, who teaches third and fourth grade in Oakland, was the 2011 Maine Teacher of Year. At an event honoring her achievement, another recipient of the award was approached by a UMF student who had been involved with the Teacher of the Year selection process. UMF student Eric Brooks, of Columbia Falls, was an evaluator on the committee that had evaluated Moody, and he saw an opportunity.
Brooks approached teacher Kevin Grover, who won the award in 2010 and teaches second grade in Falmouth, about coming to UMF to meet with pre-service teachers. Grover immediately agreed, and invited some of his fellow recipients. Moody, as well as Gloria Noyes, a Westbrook fifth-grade teacher who was the 2009 winner, and Argy Nestor, 1995 winner who is now the Department of Education’s visual and performing arts specialist, all agreed to meet with students.
The concept of exceptional teachers meeting with pre-service teachers is, somewhat surprisingly, not widely used. Pre-service teachers have mentors and internship-like opportunities, but these occur later in the education program. The issue, all four teachers said Tuesday, was chiefly one of timing; teachers are expected to be prepared for a growing number of situations in the classroom, and there isn’t any free space in the education program at UMF or anywhere else.
“[Pre-service teachers] need more time in the classroom,” Noyes, who graduated UMF in 1993, said. “You need to know what you’re getting into way earlier.”
“They’re reading a lot about education,” Moody agreed, “a lot about developmental education, a lot about the theories of education, but now can they put that to use in a classroom.”
Grover gave his keynote presentation (each teacher of the year is generally asked to make a presentation on some facet of education) on the importance of parents in a child’s education. Grover said that learning how to best bring parental input and support into a student’s education was something he developed over time. How to deal with parents, particularly unsupportive or unhelpful parents, was the focus of several UMF students’ concerns Tuesday morning.
“It has become an extremely important part of my job,” Grover said, regarding establishing teacher-parent-student relationships. It is a skill that Grover hopes to pass on to UMF students.
The other teachers had their own opinions about what was important. Nestor talked about the rise of technology in the classroom, noting things had changed dramatically since she was named teacher of the year in 1995. Noyes spoke about the importance of connecting and establishing a rapport with students, in order to get them engaged in their own education. Moody discussed the importance of her mentors in her own development as a teacher, and the need to see a variety of styles and grade levels before finding a niche.
“I really hope this is the beginning of a relationship between the University of Maine and the teachers of Maine,” Grover said. “It is clear, to me, that this is the right audience for me.”
UMF’s education program graduates more new teachers every year than anywhere else in the state. The past three teachers of the year have been UMF graduates, and Grover and others saw the university as a logical place to impact the development of new teachers.
All the teachers said they hoped that opportunities for pre-service teachers to interact and learn from established teachers would grow over time. Noyes compared it to a common science lesson at her grade level; melting and evaporation. While students in her class could learn the definitions and process from books, Noyes thought the actual experiments, holding the ice as it melted, watching the water evaporate, were far more effective.
“This is certainly a way to give back,” Nestor said.
