麻豆传媒入口

The Career and Technical Education building at Fauquier High School includes classrooms dedicated to skills you might expect: woodworking, cooking, and car maintenance. But enter Nancy Nye鈥檚 room, and you鈥檒l encounter students getting a very different kind of hands-on experience: running a fully functioning preschool.

Nye鈥檚 Early Childhood Education class allows high school students to gain firsthand experience with teaching preschoolers. The students design and lead lessons, redirect children who aren鈥檛 listening, and鈥攑erhaps the hardest lesson of all, according to Nye鈥攍earn to say 鈥淣o.鈥�

The high school students enrolled in Early Childhood Education have taken a prerequisite class, Child Development, with Nye. Many of them are interested in becoming teachers; others are exploring careers in physical therapy, nursing, or psychology. As Nye notes, 鈥淚t鈥檚 nice for them to get experience now. You don鈥檛 really learn until you鈥檙e in the classroom and working with the kids.鈥� Clara, an 11th grader who wants to be a teacher, says, 鈥淪eeing how the kids interact with each other, interact with their environment, it really helps me put into perspective what I鈥檓 going to be setting myself up for in the future, and it really gets me excited.鈥�

The preschoolers are local 3- and 4-year-olds. Parents learn about the program by word of mouth, and they pay a below-market fee that helps cover the cost of materials. At drop-off, the high school students greet their students with hugs and high-fives, setting a positive tone for the school day.

During the first couple of weeks, Nye observes the interactions between the teens and tots and then pairs each high school student with two or three preschool students based on personalities. At the beginning of class, the high school students sit with their assigned preschool students, helping them with activities designed to develop their fine motor skills, like forming shapes and writing their names. Clara notes the ways she鈥檚 grown as a teacher and partner to 鈥渉er鈥� kids: 鈥淎t the beginning of this year, I was not really sure how to interact with the kids, not really sure what鈥檚 the difference between hanging out with them and teaching them. I feel more confident now.鈥�

The high school students also take turns being responsible for the week鈥檚 lesson plans. Each week has a designated letter, and one high school student chooses a book to read and a craft to make that connects with that letter. A week dedicated to 鈥淟鈥� features a story about a ladybug flying home, and every child makes their own ladybug out of a paper plate. Clara values the chance to have real responsibility, while also having Nye鈥檚 support if she needs help: 鈥淪he gives a lot of power to us to help the kids. But at the same time, she doesn鈥檛 let anything go past her.鈥�

The preschool is closed on Fridays to give Nye and the high school students a chance to debrief and to plan for the following week. Students share examples of ways in which both they and their preschool students have grown鈥攁s well as ways they would like to improve.

Many of the high school students involved in the preschool go on to participate in Fauquier High School鈥檚 Teach for Tomorrow program. Participants intern at local elementary schools, shadowing a teacher at first and then leading their own lessons. At the end of the program, the school district sends each participant a letter with an exciting promise: Once the student finishes their undergraduate education, they will have a job waiting for them in Fauquier County Schools.

Nye notes how important it is to create this pipeline, citing a reality facing Fauquier County and districts around the country: 鈥淲e need good teachers more than ever. So I just hope that I can guide them into that.鈥�