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38 March 24, 2016
2016 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine
Lincoln Daily
News.comThe lesson began with a video about the cycles of water in the
atmosphere. Reagan Tibbs led the discussion afterward, then
with the help of Sara and Dawn, instructed the kids on putting
together their own ecosystem using rocks and water in a plastic
bag. The bags were then taped to a window in the classroom.
Reagan talked about what the kids would witness as the sun
Crowell, Raelyn Lessen and Breanna Waller
on Team 3; and Jake Kirgan, Amber Oliver,
and Kylee Alexander on Team 4.
To get the teen teachers off to a good start, it
begins with a “Teach the Teacher” program.
In that program Akpore said she works with
the students giving them instruction first
and foremost on how to interact with the
younger children - how to speak on their
level and keep them engaged in the learning
process, and then how to present the lesson
plan and keep the class moving along.
Teen Teacher has value in the classroom first
of all because it is kids teaching kids. While
the high school students are older than the
kindergarten through fifth-graders, they
are still younger than the adult classroom
teacher. So they have a nice connection
with the kids.
Secondly, there is a need for teachers, and
this gives the teenagers an opportunity to
explore teaching as a career. Hyde said
some of the teenagers have said, no way
would they do that day in and day out.
But at the same time, there is one student
involved who is now interested in becoming
a teacher because of his classroom
experience.
This was the pilot year for the Teen Teacher
program. Success of the program will
determine whether or not there is future
funding made available. Akpore also noted
that she is also working toward beginning
the program with the FFA at the Mount
Pulaski High School. She said the prospects
of adding additional teachers from Mount
Pulaski are good, and she is hopeful that she
will be able to recruit 12 more students to
create four more teams this year.
Three teen teachers were working at West
Lincoln-Broadwell School on Thursday,
February 18th. Sarah and Dawn Irwin and
Reagan Tibbs taught the day’s lesson on
water to Mrs. Bowlby’s fifth grade science
class.
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