Monfredo: Worcester Future Teachers Program Alive and Well at South High

Sunday, July 19, 2015

John Monfredo, GoLocalWorcester MINDSETTER™

Diversity among teachers in the Worcester Public Schools has been a “hot button” for many years due to a high minority population in our city. Minority recruitment out of state has always come up in discussions concerning city employment. However, what many of our readers may not know is that we have local programs within our high schools that encourage students, especially minorities, to go into the teaching profession.

One such program has been the Worcester Future Teachers Academy that was started in the 1980’s at all of the comprehensive high schools. The program ran after school one day a week. Due to funding the program was cut at all of the high schools. However, South High continued to run the program for its students as a club with a volunteer advisor and it still exists today. Sara Sisa, South High English teacher, is the Worcester Future Teachers Advisor. Most interesting, Ms. Sisa, as a student, was in the Worcester Future Teachers program several years ago as a student at South High. Now she works with her students intensively to instruct, guide and support them as they move forward with their careers.

Since 2009 under the direction of Principal Maureen Binienda the program at South High has continued to move forward. Students who may be interested in a teaching career are encouraged to join the program and learn about the education profession. Students meet once a week and create and develop lessons in a subject area of their choice and give each other feedback. Teacher Sara Sisa coordinates the program and assists the students in their projects.

An additional aspect to the program for several years now has been enrolling the students in a summer workshop for one week at Worcester State University. The funding for the week has been supported by the Worcester Public Schools. However, due to budget constraints it was not funded this year so I approached W.S.U. college president Barry Maloney about the value of the program and he agreed to support the students for the week with room and board. The students had the opportunity to stay overnight on campus in July and use the college facilities to fully immerse themselves in college life.

The students moved into the dorms on Sunday and the next day subject seminars were taught by Worcester State University professors … Dr. Raynold Lewis, Dr. Douglas Dawson, and Dr. Patrick O’Connor. Other speakers during the week included Worcester Public School teacher Michael Lyons, Mrs. Stacey DeBoise Luster, Human Resource Director of the WPS, Vice President of enrollment management Mr. Ryan Forsthe, Jayne McGinn from the Financial Aid office, and WSU Clinical Professor Kate Bettley Bastien.

Throughout the week the students were greeted by President Maloney and other college professors. I also had the opportunity to speak and listen to the students about this great experience that was taking place.

During the week students crafted lessons with the assistance of South High teachers Sara Sisa, English teacher and Carlo Di Bonanaventura, an outstanding biology teacher at the school. Both teachers were so enthusiastic about spending time with the students and hope that the WTF initiative continues and expands in the coming years.
Throughout the week lesson plans were presented to their peers and the students then were given constructive feedback on their teaching and what they could do to improve. Most students came away with an appreciation of what their teachers have to do day in and day out to prepare for their classroom teaching. As one of the students said, “Wow, this is hard work and requires lots of prep time!”

The students that I had the opportunity to engage in conversation were most excited about their ability to participate in the program and be on campus. One student stated that is made her realize how great it would be to spend her life teaching kids to become comfortable with who they are and make a difference in their lives.
One student declared, “It gave us the faith that we can overcome adversity despite our finances, race, language and so much more and become teachers through hard work.” Another student stated, “I now know for a fact that I want to be a teacher, and this program helped me make that decision.”

To the delight of W.SU. another student acknowledged, “With this experience, I found a new home for myself. I have decided to make WSU the first choice for my college.”

In addition to the academic part of the week, the students with Principal Binienda and staff had the opportunity do some things that they never did before… go bowling and play miniature golf in the Worcester area.

Most importantly, if these students continue to have the work ethics and succeed in college and graduate from WSU with an education degree they are guaranteed a teaching position in the Worcester Public School.

Currently, there are two WFT scholarships available for eligible students each year. Last year South High Alumni, Emily Faucher graduated from WSU with a teaching degree in English and is now employed as a teacher at Sullivan Middle School. Congratulations South High for motivating and moving our students on a career pathway into the noble profession of teaching.

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Monfredo: Worcester Future Teachers Program Alive and Well at South High

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