Caught in Limbo, Aspiring Educators Ask for Flexibility
Monica Isza never got to say good-bye to her students, not really, not the way she had hoped. She settled for a FaceTime call, in which they asked a lot of questions that she couldn’t answer, like are we going to see you again?
Isza, a Michigan State University (MSU) graduate and NEA Aspiring Educators member who was spending the academic year as a student teacher at a Chicago elementary school, left her fifth graders early when MSU canceled all student-teacher placements.
Across the country, thousands of student-teachers like Isza abruptly said good-bye when the COVID-19 pandemic closed schools and sent college students home. For students who are graduating next month and checking the last boxes on their licensure requirements, this cancelation has left them in limbo as states rush to implement extensions and waivers for student teachers. On top of other concerns related to the pandemic—like where to live when the dorms are closed—aspiring educators also are wondering how they’re going to get licensed to teach when they can’t complete the in-person, student-teaching requirements.
“I think about it every day,” says Homar Rodriguez, a senior at Delaware State University whose student-teaching placement was canceled when Delaware’s public schools were closed. “Hopefully they can work with us!”
Fortunately, Rodriguez isn’t alone. As a member of NEA Aspiring Educators, a campus-based association of more than 50,000 future teachers, he’s one of many future teachers advocating for a solution, alongside their union family. “You are not facing these issues alone,” NEA Aspiring Educators Chair Rachel Immerman recently CONTINUE READING: Caught in Limbo, Aspiring Educators Ask for Flexibility - NEA Today