Junior Sophia Pace practices making paper chains, a common project in elementary school classes. “[Teacher cadet] is an introduction to teaching. We practice teaching in the classroom. Then they go out and apply that during their internships. Students have to build a portfolio, and I will occasionally go sit in and observe them teach. Students get the opportunity to experience working with actual teachers in their classrooms,” said Teacher Mitchell Pace.

Seniors Lauren Green, Nevaeh Ferguson, and Lily Prater use teamwork to create paper chains. “In Teacher Cadet, we work as a class to teach each other unique teaching strategies,” said Green.

Pictured: Junior Samuel Loving and senior Makayla Mason work to untangle their paper chain. At the end of the first quarter in, Pace takes students on a field trip to the schools so they can meet the teacher and class they will be spending the next nine weeks with.

Junior Emma Sample holds her group’s paper chain to see how long it is. “I already had a lot of experience working with kids because I work at a daycare. In Teacher Cadet, we do a lot of projects and learn about different teaching methods that fall under VARK (Visual, Aural, Read, and Kinesthetic learning) that I plan to use while I am teaching for my internship,” said Ferguson.

Seniors Tristain Morris and Jessica Wyant work together to staple their paper chains. “I joined Teacher Cadet because I want to work with kids. I don’t exactly want to be a teacher, but I know that I want to work with kids in some way. I have been working with kids for over a year and I have really enjoyed it. That motivated me to take Teacher Cadet because I knew that I would get to work with kids some more,” said Wyant.