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Educator for a Day Grant Recipients Host Community Events See photos from the schools that received $5,000 grants from Walden. On Nov. 5, Walden University presented $5,000 Educator for a Day Grants to three schools—Times Squared Academy in Providence, R.I.; South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind in Spartanburg, S.C.; and Conerly Road School in Somerset, N.J.
These schools were selected from more than 150 nominations submitted by faculty and administrators across the United States. As part of the National Education Association’s American Education Week, celebrated each year the week before Thanksgiving week, each school hosted aspiring educators who shadowed teachers during the school day.
Walden created the grant initiative to honor the teaching profession and to reward teachers and their students for their commitment to education. The program also aims to foster awareness of the need for more teachers and to showcase benefits of the profession. Earlier this year, in an expanded effort to address teacher shortfalls, Walden began offering teacher preparation programs.
Liz Fort, a community supporter, watches a student in the South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind do his homework in Braille. Principal Shirley Wilson looks over her shoulder. Fort plans to continue volunteering at the school and to take sign language courses.
Sgt. Jeff Jannarone of the Rutgers University Police Department spoke to Irena Stewart’s fourth-grade class during Conerly Road School’s Educator for a Day event. He explained that after achieving his first dream by earning his master’s in education and teaching for several years, he then followed his other dream, that of being a police officer. By becoming an Educator for a Day, he was able to combine both passions.
Times Squared Academy Educator for a Day Curtis Spence (left), a Providence, R.I., marketing and advertising consultant who decided to go into education, observes a biology class taught by Eze Aso. Spence said his previous experience coaching basketball and working with teens in a nonprofit organization furthered his interest in becoming a teacher, and that he viewed Educator for a Day as a valuable opportunity to see classroom interaction.
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©2008 Walden University |
