Laila Cespedes knew they wanted to go into elementary education. So in their senior year, they decided to take Pathways to Teaching.
The class takes place on Tuesday and Thursdays at Concordia University Chicago, located in River Forest. Students arrive at Oak Park and River Forest High School at 7:30 a.m. and then take a bus to Concordia. The class begins at 8 a.m. and finishes at 9:15, according to Cespedes.
At Concordia, students take a course taught by Jessica Knobbe, visiting assistant professor of teacher education, although at Concordia University the course is not called Pathways to Teaching but Introduction to American Education. They arrive back at OPRF before 3rd period, according to program participant Sydney Neschis (also a Trapeze staffer), who is currently taking the class.
“Not many people take it,” said Cespedes. “I think, right now there’s only three people in the class. And I really think that it’s an opportunity that many people are missing out on.”
Pathways to Teaching is housed under Family Consumer Sciences along with culinary and child development programs, according to Matthew Prebble, the division head of Fine and Applied Arts. “The students earn college credit that goes on college transcripts, and they’re getting local applied art credit here at OPRF,” he said.
Pathways to Teaching is a single semester class, with students who take the class eligible to take Human and Cognitive Development at Concordia University second semester. The curriculum covers topics such as building lesson plans and being careful about bringing personal biases into the classroom.
Students who participate in this course also have a mandated 10 hours of observational time in an educational setting. Students can earn these hours at either elementary school classrooms in District 97, Oak Park’s elementary school district, or at the in-house daycare at Concordia University, according to Cespedes.
In addition to the observational hours in a real teaching environment and college credit, students are able to receive a college and career endorsement on their diploma.
“You can actually get something on your diploma–your high school diploma–that’s a college and career endorsement,” said Jennifer Brinkman, the director of student learning at OPRF. “So this one would say you have gotten the Human and Public Services endorsement.”
“It really cemented that I do enjoy doing education work, even if there is a lot of homework that comes with it,” said Cespedes. “It’s definitely helped me figure out that teaching is a field I want to go into.”
