By Christina Cooke
Staff Writer
Red Bank High School junior Meredith Carder decided she wanted to be a teacher in the second grade, when she had a "really cool" teacher who played the ukulele for the class every morning.
She entered Red Bank's Teaching Academy in ninth grade and said two years in the program has made her more sure of her decision.
"I really enjoy helping people," she said Wednesday afternoon while helping students at Red Bank Elementary learn to count change. "This has strengthened my desire to enter the field."
Red Bank's Teaching Academy earned national kudos last week when the National Career Academy Coalition named it the 2006 National Career Academy of the Year. The designation recognizes the U.S. school that most successfully creates a school-within-a-school program and integrates it into the local community.
Red Bank teacher Pam Boaz, who helped write the academy's curriculum, said Red Bank teachers and students were thrilled at the news.
"It's such an affirmation of what you do, and it's such a positive thing for future teachers," she said. "To have the work they're doing recognized in this way, it's the best."
Red Bank's teaching academy, established in 2002, is one of three themed programs at the high school. Academy participants take one teaching class each semester during which they learn about topics including the history of education, learning styles, public speaking and teaching through the arts.
Students also work in classrooms at Alpine Crest and Red Bank elementary schools, where they progress from assisting teachers with their lessons to delivering lessons themselves.
Junior Ben O'Neal entered the academy his freshman year because he hopes to become a teacher and football coach. He spent Wednesday afternoon helping a group of Red Bank Elementary students complete worksheets in the hall outside their classroom.
What is the most valuable thing he's learned in the Teaching Academy?
Patience, he said.
E-mail Christina Cooke at ccooke@timesfreepress.com
Staff Writer
Red Bank High School junior Meredith Carder decided she wanted to be a teacher in the second grade, when she had a "really cool" teacher who played the ukulele for the class every morning.
She entered Red Bank's Teaching Academy in ninth grade and said two years in the program has made her more sure of her decision.
"I really enjoy helping people," she said Wednesday afternoon while helping students at Red Bank Elementary learn to count change. "This has strengthened my desire to enter the field."
Red Bank's Teaching Academy earned national kudos last week when the National Career Academy Coalition named it the 2006 National Career Academy of the Year. The designation recognizes the U.S. school that most successfully creates a school-within-a-school program and integrates it into the local community.
Red Bank teacher Pam Boaz, who helped write the academy's curriculum, said Red Bank teachers and students were thrilled at the news.
"It's such an affirmation of what you do, and it's such a positive thing for future teachers," she said. "To have the work they're doing recognized in this way, it's the best."
Red Bank's teaching academy, established in 2002, is one of three themed programs at the high school. Academy participants take one teaching class each semester during which they learn about topics including the history of education, learning styles, public speaking and teaching through the arts.
Students also work in classrooms at Alpine Crest and Red Bank elementary schools, where they progress from assisting teachers with their lessons to delivering lessons themselves.
Junior Ben O'Neal entered the academy his freshman year because he hopes to become a teacher and football coach. He spent Wednesday afternoon helping a group of Red Bank Elementary students complete worksheets in the hall outside their classroom.
What is the most valuable thing he's learned in the Teaching Academy?
Patience, he said.
E-mail Christina Cooke at ccooke@timesfreepress.com
