"I definitely feel that my knowledge of technology is stronger than that of any other new teachers." Tamara Hughes ('05), Spanish teacher at Mount Tabor High School in Winston-Salem, NC.

Teaching Teachers

Part 4: Responsibility and rewards

More than most disciplines, the success of the education department's program has a ripple effect that continues for generations. For not only are Wake Forest's teacher-education students deeply affected by the quality of the program, so too are the thousands of young learners who will pass through their future classrooms. The responsibility is enormous, the rewards even larger.

"I feel as though I can teach anyone," said Hughes, while Bronson said that she feels fortunate to have attended a school where she was exposed to quality teacher education and where seeds of excellence were planted. Ferrell believes that she now accepts only the best from her students because her instructors expected same from her. "On top of making time for students and letting them know how much you care for them, high expectation levels mark a great teacher," she said.

And for Eriksen, who expressed high expectations for her profession when she said that good teachers are those who "do everything necessary" to enable each and every child to succeed, validation came via a compliment from her principal. "One of the kindest things my principal said about me was that she wished her own high school student at a different high school could be in my class," she stated. "I think it says a lot when a parent wants their child to be taught by you."

Karilon L. Rogers is a writer, editor and communication consultant based in Clemmons, N.C.

A special feature of Wake Forest Magazine.

By Karilon L. Rogers