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Wake Schools Assist College Students Who Want to Teach Devin Plants started his job as a 10th Grade Honors English teacher at Panther Creek High in Cary just a few months ago, but he already feels right at home. This is thanks in part to the Wake County Public School System’s Future Teachers program, a recruitment initiative launched in 2015 to develop the district’s internal student talent. Participants are WCPSS high school graduates who intend to pursue careers in education and commit to teaching in the district upon completion of their teacher preparation programs. Future Teachers participants are guaranteed a teaching position upon completion of an approved four-year education program leading to a North Carolina license to teach. And although the program is not a scholarship, it still caught Plants’ attention during his senior year at Fuquay-Varina High. “I have wanted to be a teacher my entire life. I have a brother with severe special needs, so I have spent a lot of time teaching him, helping him and explaining things to him in different ways,” Plants said. “I knew I wanted a career in education in Wake County. Plus school was a place where I have always felt happy, so I guess you can say I never really wanted to leave.” So he didn’t. Though he attended Appalachian State University, Plants returned home often for Future Teachers events. He participated in online and face-to-face sessions lead by current staff members and designed to help members of his Future Teachers cohort learn more about curriculum, programs and other processes unique to WCPSS. He also received annual professional development stipends beginning the summer after his freshman year. Since Plants completed his teacher preparation program 60
early (in December 2018), he is the first member of the inaugural class of Future Teachers to begin working in WCPSS. And he says that the experience is already paying off. “The most valuable part of the program for me was the context it provided me about the district,” he said. “Teachers can sometimes be really disconnected from what is happening higher up at the district level, with policies or with other big initiatives. Future Teachers helped me realize how important it is to tune in to what is happening beyond the walls of my classroom and school.” Panther Creek High Principal Camille Hedrick said that she knew right away that Plants would bring something special to her school. “It’s not just about loyalty to me, it’s about his connection to Wake, it’s his understanding of how we do things in Wake County and that is what is so important,” she said. “After I interviewed him, I said to myself, ‘This is a teacher’. You know it when you talk to him. You know it when you see him work. He is the real deal.” The additional 12 members of the first Future Teachers group benefitted from a final session focused on preparing for that first year in the classroom. Then they will receive their very first teaching jobs in a WCPSS school. “The most meaningful part of this experience has really been the other people I have met during my time with Future Teachers, Plants said. “They have shaped the way I teach and the way I develop relationships with my students-which is the most important thing. They have shown me how important it is to put your heart into teaching.” To join the 80-plus college students currently enrolled in the Future Teachers program, visit wcpss.net/future teachers. This article courtesy of Wake County Public School System.
www.919Magazine.com
May/June 2019
