Grant Will Help "Grow Teachers"
The U.S. Department of Education grants $1.14 million to CSUMB for a three-year program which will bring students from local high schools and community colleges to study in one of CSUMB's teacher preparation programs. The goal of the program is to identify, in ninth grade, potential future teachers and to continue their focused education during community college and on to the university.
The program, called Manzana (Spanish for "apple"), expects to bring several hundred high school and community college students into CSUMB's education programs and train them to become credentialed teachers. Many will be bilingual and the majority will eventually become teachers in their hometowns (Salinas and Hollister). So-called "home grown" teachers are considered an exceptional benefit for any community, since their familiarity with neighborhoods and their knowledge of the local culture help teachers to understand students and their parents.
Beginning in the ninth grade, selected schools will gather students interested in becoming teachers. Each group will take classes that emphasize how to teach different age groups a given topic. For example, while studying history, students will learn how to present a history lesson to second- or fifth-graders. Through the grant, CSUMB will provide funds to each high school involved in the program. At community colleges and CSUMB, the grant provides for the formation of learning communities to gather students interested in becoming teachers.
"It is our belief," says Mark O'Shea, project director, "that through integrating students into pre-professional activities and into the university, the community will benefit with highly-qualified beginning teachers."
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