Submitted by The Evergreen State College
Nearly all the students who graduated Evergreen’s Master in Teaching (MiT) program last June are enjoying the last weeks of Summer, as they will not be unemployed for long.
By mid-August, 30 out of the 31 MiT Class of 2015 graduates have accepted teaching positions across Western Washington and Oregon, and even abroad. While most of the new teachers stayed in the region – Olympia, Tacoma, North Thurston, Puyallup, Hoquiam, Hood Canal and Shelton School Districts, others ventured to Beaverton, Portland and Sweet Home, Oregon, to Neah Bay and to Nablus, Palestine.
They will teach subjects as diverse as visual arts, math, Spanish and Robotics, at levels everywhere between second grade and high school.
According to MiT’s associate director, Maggie Foran, the program’s placement rates have been historically strong, but for a dip during and immediately after the Recession. “The number of retirements went down, class sizes grew and first year teachers were being laid off,” said Foran. In 2012 placements increased as schools began replenishing their teaching pools and reducing class sizes.
The Evergreen program requires two student teaching internships – in fall and spring of year two, where most programs require only one. Foran pointed out that, “fall student teachers participate in the opening of a school year, as communities, rules and expectations are established.” She noted, “Research shows that teachers who did fall internships tend to do better their first year.”
The program sometimes attracts returning students who have significant achievements in other fields. Heather Claiborne (nee Littke), ’15, of the Snoqualmie area, had spent five years in geological mapping for the Washington Department of Natural Resources, Geology Division. Beginning September 9, she will teach seventh and eighth grade Life/Physical Science and Robotics at Nisqually Middle School, where she did an internship. “I learned so much from the Evergreen program,” said Claiborne. “I was working with rocks and rocks don’t talk back.”
Joking aside, Claiborne said she was, “a blank slate,” when she started her masters, and, ironically, she said, “I feel more humble now. As a teacher there’s so much to learn every day.”
She is thrilled to be teaching science to middle schoolers. “Kids are so interested in the natural world,” she said. She feels that the Evergreen program prepared her to take her own classroom next month, “and that’s an awesome feeling.”
Katie Schuessler, ‘15 had previously taught art in Palestinian refugee camps and wanted to go back. She returns to the city of Nablus this month, where she will teach art to grades three to 11 at the nonprofit Pioneers Baccalaureate School.
Even in a country where people struggle to meet basic needs, Schuessler believes art plays a critical role. “The arts promote problem solving,” she said. “They offer valuable skills that are often overlooked. And they give students an opportunity to learn in a different way, away from language and words.”
Schuessler, who speaks some Arabic, will teach in an English immersion program. “I’ll be assessing my students’ language abilities and teaching a bit of English and art vocabulary,” she said.
At Evergreen she learned a great deal about English Language Learners as well as cultural competency and sensitivity, efficient classroom management and student empowerment. “I don’t have a hero complex,” she said. “If students can come into my classroom and feel safe expressing themselves in healthy ways, I will feel like I’ve accomplished something.”
Schuessler, of Seattle, originally had to mitigate her parents’ concern about political instability in Palestine, but reported that they are planning to tour Palestine and Israel while she is there. “They support my decision,” she said.
