NEWARK, NJ – Le’Naya White, an early education major approaching her final year as a college student at Juniata College, wasn’t quite sure how she would connect with her students when she started as a teaching fellow this summer in an Uncommon Schools program for children on the autism program at North Star Academy Charter School in Newark.
White is part of the Summer Teaching Fellowship, where college students who may have interest in teaching once they graduate take part in a seven-week professional development program, which includes three weeks of in-classroom teaching alongside a certified teacher.
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This way, these students can receive feedback, training, experience and professional development as if they were full-year teachers, and potentially return to North Star schools full time after they graduate from college.
When White returned to the special education classroom after spending a few days on a different assignment, she realized the deep connection she had developed in such a short time. She was immediately greeted by a student she had been working with the week before. He missed her.