Teacher Preparation Pipeline offers future teachers practical training
TPP provides the opportunity to experience teaching in a classroom. ( CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license)
The Saddleback College Student Transfer Center provides hands-on training program to creating the future teachers of America with the EDUC 115 class and the Teacher Preparation Pipeline.
The program, led by instructor Carol Leaman, is in its fifth year at Saddleback. The class meets Monday evenings from 6 to 9 p.m.
According to Leaman, students enrolled in the class itself are not required to participate in the TPP program.
Students who wish to be in the program will be assigned by Leaman to one of several different high schools around the Capistrano Valley and Saddleback Valley school districts, and will become student aides to participating teachers.
“This program is basically designed for giving students a taste of what it’s like to teach,” said Azadeh Ghafari, a program technician with the Saddleback Student Transfer Center.
The class is four units and is transferable to California State universities.
Averaging 25 students a semester, the program has seen about 130 students go through the program aspiring to be teachers. The class is not limited to teaching high school courses.
According to Ghafari, half of the students enrolled in the course have goals of working with special needs children at many levels.
According to Leaman, many students in the program teach at their old high schools and in some cases have become student aides to their old teachers. To begin the process, Leaman interviews several students at a time, discussing their requirements to pass the class.
Students are required to exercise conduct becoming of a future teacher, such as school appropriate clothing and attitude.
Students must also work as a student aide for at least 40 hours during the semester, culminating with the Saddleback student teaching one lesson near the end of the semester.
“We have a great need for great teachers,” Ghaffari said. “Our objective is to expose people who have an interest in teaching and make it a passion.