Last fall, Chloe Wade taught art under the supervision of an experienced teacher. This semester, she’s the one in charge.
Falmouth Elementary art teacher Chloe Wade is one of the UMW graduate students who is teaching full time as part of a partnership between the College of Education and area schools. Photo by Suzanne Carr Rossi.
“I’m having an amazing time being in my own classroom and getting to choose the lessons myself,” said Wade, whose students at Falmouth Elementary in Stafford are experimenting with tempera paint and watercolors.
A graduate student in University of Mary Washington’s College of Education (COE), Wade is participating in a paid internship program launched last year to address the critical teaching shortage in local schools. So far, it’s working – and so are the 20 Mary Washington students who have taken full-time teaching positions this spring in Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania. Gaining hands-on experience while earning a paycheck, completing final requirements for their master’s degrees and helping to fill a community need? That’s a plan that deserves an A+.
“This partnership is beneficial to the school divisions, apprentice teachers and most importantly, the students,” said Theresa Aberg, human resources supervisor for Stafford County Public Schools. Read more.