Photo courtesy of Carla Ward.
Members of the MBE Samford Leadership Team include (bottom row, left to right): Cynthia Maldonado (MBE special ed teacher), Mary Beth Fields (MBE second grade teacher), Meredith Brady, Alli Burton, Molly Greene, Ruthie Gravlee (MBE fifth grade Teacher) and Ashley E. McCombs (MBE Principal). Top row, left to right: Chris Harmon, Caroline Dymond, Molly Moriak, Kailey Johnson and Alexandra Smith.
For the 2019-20 school year, Mountain Brook Elementary has entered into a new partnership with Samford University’s Teacher Education Program. Twenty-eight Samford juniors will participate one day a week in every general education classroom, learning from MBE teachers and assisting in responding to student needs.
The program is based on an immersion model in which these students will spend time teaching in a K-12 school alongside their professors. Each Samford student-teacher was interviewed by MBE and individually placed in an MBE classroom.
MBE Principal Ashley McCombs said that MBE is looking forward to this new partnership because “Samford has a reputation for training excellent teachers and their core values align seamlessly with those of our school community.”
Throughout the past year, a team from MBE worked alongside Samford professors to strategically plan the details of the program to ensure mutual benefit. Samford faculty will also be present at MBE to conduct methods courses, assist student-teachers in planning lessons and debrief after observations. The faculty will highlight effective practices, observe and provide feedback to both Samford student-teachers and MBE faculty.
Samford student-teacher Meredith Brady said that “this partnership is such an incredible growth opportunity for us, and I am so excited to learn from passionate and experienced professionals who are devoted to guiding us as developing teachers.”
Submitted by Carla Ward.
