TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — Here is a look at how Terre Haute’s Teacher Residency program is progressing.
Three residents have been hired by Terre Town, with one starting her teaching journey this year.
The teacher residency program is a grant that Indiana State University and the Vigo County School Corporation received. With this program,15 ISU students participate in a year-long residency experience at Vigo County Schools. A hands-on experience working side-by-side with teachers.
“From the first teacher workday and I went all the way to the end of the school year, so I got to see all the rules and the routines and coming back from breaks and I got to be a part of our parent teacher conferences and any school events that we got to have, I got to volunteer and work with, so it was really cool because I got to see the whole scope of the whole school year,” said Lanee Dillion, kindergarten teacher at Terre Town.
Upon completing certain activities, teacher residents have the opportunity to earn a $10,000 stipend. These activities include required days of school attendance, course requirements, teaching responsibilities, and special education requirements.
“Definitely gave me a better understanding for it because when I was in college, it was during COVID, so we didn’t get all of the classroom experiences. a lot of that was taken away. We had a bunch of online. we got everything cut in half, so I think getting to do the full residency here, in person, really helped a lot,” said Alexis Spice, 1st-grade teacher at Terre Town.
First-year teacher Kaitlyn David says the program helped ease the transition into teaching her classroom.
“I would say the biggest thing I’ve learned from the program is how to interact with parents. There’s a lot going on with the kids that we’ve learned in college, but I think that through parent-teacher conferences, which you aren’t necessarily included in if you’re not a resident. That helped a lot to learn that part of the school experience,” said David, 1st-grade teacher at Terre Town.
All three teacher residents said they benefited greatly from this program and said they hope it will expand to other colleges in the area, too. To learn more about this program, visit this link.
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