By Jennifer Fredrick

MHS Career and Technical Education Coordinator

Since 2010, Marshfield High School (MHS) has offered Future Teacher Internship as a work-based learning opportunity to encourage students to learn more about a career in education. For a semester, a high school senior “student intern” interested in becoming a teacher volunteers with a mentor teacher for 90 minutes a day, four days a week.

While student interns are volunteering, they observe multiple teaching and learning strategies and interact with students and a mentor teacher in the discipline they are planning to pursue. They may have an opportunity to teach a mini lesson while learning about careers such as school counseling, special education, early childhood, elementary education, and secondary education.

One day a week student interns are in class at MHS with their teacher coordinator learning about such topics as tutoring students, university requirements for pursuing a career as a teacher, classroom management, planning curriculum, and assessment.

Thirteen MHS seniors are enrolled in Future Teacher Internship at Marshfield High School (MHS) for the 2016-2017 school year, and student interns volunteer at each of the schools in the School District of Marshfield.

In addition to the hands-on experience in local classrooms with mentor teachers and meaningful conversation with their MHS teacher coordinator, students are encouraged to think about steps they may take in achieving their career goal of becoming a teacher.

For example, in late October, John Gaffney, recruitment and retention coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, met with Future Teacher Internship students to explain requirements for School of Education admission, job outlook, steps to earning a teaching license, costs associated with education programs, and career outcomes.

Anna Ripp, a participant in the Future Teacher Internship program, recently commented about her work-based learning experience.

“As a senior in high school, it’s overwhelming to think about all the different career options. However, having the opportunity to explore hands-on with a career while in high school helps me make an informed decision. After participating in Future Teacher Internship, I learned about the skills necessary to be a good teacher, the responsibilities associated with teaching, and I’m excited to pursue my future career goal,” Ripp said. She is planning to attend college in the fall of 2017 to pursue her career goal of becoming a school counselor.

As a teacher in the School District of Marshfield for almost 17 years and a parent of a kindergarten student at Nasonville Elementary School, I am impressed daily with the professionalism, compassion, and dedication of the educators in our school district. As the teacher coordinator for the Future Teacher Internship program, I am fortunate to work with high school students planning to pursue a career in education and look forward to calling these high school students my colleagues one day.