By: Kate Zachary
Oak Grove’s Future Educators of America club is currently learning what it takes to be a school teacher. Most of the members of the FEA club have decided to participate in job shadowing. Job shadowing is a great way for the club to get hands on experience of what it takes to be a teacher. “We go to each of the schools in Oak Grove, and the members of the club stay with one teacher or class all day. FEA members get to observe as well as participate in different activities that the classes are doing,” sponsor of the club, Mrs. Ingram, said. Members are shadowing teachers at several Oak Grove Schools including, Oak Grove Primary, Oak Grove Lower Elementary, Oak Grove Upper Elementary, and the Oak Grove Gifted Center. Georgia Wyatt, president of the FEA club, job shadowed a second grade teacher at the Oak Grove Lower Elementary School. “I liked job shadowing. The kids are really cute,” Wyatt said. “I don’t think I could handle being with them all day every day though. If I decide to become a teacher, I want to teach kids that are old enough to blow their noses and go to the bathroom on their own,” Wyatt said.
The Future Educators of America club mostly participates in job shadowing to help the members understand the life of a regular school day through the eyes of a teacher. Though job shadowing is not required to be in the club, it is strongly encouraged, especially to those who have never really experienced a day in the life of a teacher. The FEA club does numerous other projects to help the teachers at our school and other schools in the area. The club has at least one meeting each month to discuss the new upcoming projects they will participate in. Another project the group works on is Star Teacher, which is a way club memebers can learn about certain teachers at Oak Grove High School and how they teach. They also learn the reasons why teachers are so proud of what they do, the educational background, and their educational philosophies. FEA also participates in Adopt a Classroom, in which the members raise money to buy school supplies and books for a certain classroom. Every member in the club is always eager to contribute his or her fair share to make each project a success. The sponsors of the club are Mrs. Ingram and Mrs. Kneip, and they are both very proud and of all the projects the group has accomplished so far this year. The FEA club is a great contributor to the school and teachers. All of the members have a great appreciation for the hard work teachers do, and most of them hope to become teachers themselves someday.
