Tribble Hall on the Reynolda Campus houses the education department, where dedicated faculty lead Wake Forest's highly respected teacher-education program — producing the kind of teachers that every child deserves.

Teaching Teachers

Wake Forest's education program earns high marks

The Value of a Small-Sized Program
Some might say that the Wake Forest teacher-education program produces great teachers despite its modest size. Those who look closely realize it is because of it. For while the program's attributes — and the accomplishments of its faculty — are large in stature, it is the department's small size that enables it to produce the kind of teachers that every child deserves.

Few teacher-education programs can provide the level of individualized mentoring and feedback that is standard at Wake Forest because of its low student-to-faculty ratio. Fewer still can underpin that personalized learning with such rigorous academics and cutting-edge methodology.

Associate Professor of Education and Department Chair Mary Lynn Redmond (right) mentors Katie Mundell, a student in the Master Teacher Fellows Program who is teaching a class at Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem.

Add in a local-schools partnership that is a model of collaboration and in-field mentoring, faculty members who are national leaders yet know their students well, and a focus on caring as well as content, and the results are impressive.

"We are committed to preparing teachers who are exceptionally well equipped in the content area they will be teaching and who understand at a deep level who their learners are," said Associate Professor of Education and department chair Mary Lynn Redmond. "It is a complex process. They must know best practices and then choose the appropriate methodologies to reach all their learners and help them develop. And they must care about their students — caring is an important part of our program. It helps that our students are such good people, such exceptional human beings. That is the kind of student Wake Forest attracts."

Award-winning teachers
Bethany Bronson ('05) is one of the program's success stories. The elementary education graduate earned a District of Columbia Public Schools' Outstanding First-Year Teacher Award for excelling in nearly every area that is a Wake Forest focus.

Teacher Education at Wake Forest features: individualized mentoring personalized learning collaboration with local schools in-field mentoring nationally-recognized faculty a focus on caring as well as content

"I think my greatest strength as a teacher is my ability to create an environment in which students of varying learning levels and styles are actively engaged, encouraged, and therefore, enthusiastic about learning," she said. "My professors at Wake Forest taught me how important creating such a learning environment is, and they gave me practical strategies and methods that have equipped me to do so."

Liz Whisnant, principal of Bronson's Horace Mann Elementary School, agrees. In addition to complimenting what she described as Bethany's "strong abilities," Whisnant expressed how impressed she has been by Bethany's classroom maturity and effectiveness. "I have worked with first-year teachers in four school settings, many of them marvelously eager, but each of whom needed to find their teaching voice," she said. "Bethany seemed to develop hers within just a week of being in the classroom - a voice that carried equal doses of authority (difficult for a new teacher) and awe (essential for making students feel valued).

"A learner who carries around a vision of him or herself as brimming with potential and as equipped for the challenging work of school will fulfill that expectation — especially when nurtured by a teacher who embraces and communicates that same vision. From the start of the year, Bethany seemed to understand the importance of this."

About the education department
With 10 faculty members, the education department offers an undergraduate major in social studies education and elementary education and both undergraduate and graduate programs in secondary education and foreign language. Secondary education includes math, science, social studies and English, while foreign language encompasses German, French and Spanish. Approximately 65 future teachers complete their course of study each year.

Graduate students take part in either the Master Teacher Fellows program or the Master Teacher Associates program, both of which are supported by Wake Forest fellowships that provide fully paid tuition plus a small stipend for each participant. A total of 30 fellowships are available each year, with six candidates accepted in each subject area. Five slots are reserved for minority candidates.

The Fellows program is designed for students without an undergraduate degree in education or teaching certification; the Associates program targets licensed teachers. Participants in both earn a master's degree and graduate-level teaching license; Fellows also gain their initial teaching certification.

Part 2: Mentoring one-on-one »

A special feature of Wake Forest Magazine.

By Karilon L. Rogers