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CNN Live At Daybreak
Georgia Takes Desperate Measures to Procure New Teachers
Aired July 13, 2001 - 07:21 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We have a story out of the state of Georgia. The shortage of teachers here is so bad that officials have resorted to what some might consider extreme measures. They have issued a public call to anyone who wants to be a schoolteacher: Come on board.
The state of Georgia will train them in a special three-week training program. Well, you can imagine the controversy since most of these people have no degree in education and no teaching experience.
CNN's national correspondent Gary Tuchman explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Georgia's school year begins in August, it will start with some new teachers who took their first-ever classes on how to teach in July.
ALLISON GILMORE, MERCER UNIVERSITY: This is simply an emergency process to get teachers into the classroom as quickly as possible.
TUCHMAN: More than 700 people statewide, most of whom never took an education course in college, are preparing to become permanent teachers.
AMIRA SA'DI, PROSPECTIVE TEACHER: I was working at Mead Packaging, basically sitting at a computer forecasting sales of soda cartons.
TUCHMAN: Amira Sa'di is one of the people taking a three-week crash course which will make them teachers as early as next month, all in an effort to help solve Georgia's serious teacher shortage.
SA'DI: I know that teachers are really needed. And I want to do something about it.
TUCHMAN: They are all college graduates. And only a small percentage of those who applied were accepted to take this class. They'll receive a special provisional teaching certificate by the end of July and will then be tutored and mentored for two years, when they will then be eligible for a regular teaching certificate.
GILMORE: They already have the knowledge base based on their undergraduate record. And with the tools and skills that we're giving them and also the network -- the mentor network and the support system -- we believe that they will have just as good a retention rate and just as good a success rate as any other teachers.
TUCHMAN: There is not uniform agreement.
BARNETT BERRY, NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TEACHING & AMERICA'S FUTURE: The research is very clear on this front. Folks who go through programs like Teach for Georgia do not stay very long. And they don't stay primarily because they're not prepared. Motivation to teach is wholly important, but wholly insufficient.
TUCHMAN: Some who oppose Teach for Georgia say supervised internships should be a requirement, but Kristen Thornton is among many who believe that's not necessary.
KRISTEN THORNTON, PROSPECTIVE TEACHER: I was a premed student, a psychology major, and had planned on being a pediatrician.
TUCHMAN: Now she plans on being a grade school science teacher, perhaps teaching a future pediatrician.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: We're going to get a really in-depth and very personal view of what it's like to go through this program and the reasons why. We have two of the teachers joining us this morning -- Kristen Thornton here and also Amira Sa'di, both of them going through the program.
Neither of you have any teaching experience, is that right?
THORNTON: Actually, I took all the education courses to be certified to teach except for one when I was a student at Agnes Scott College.
LIN: And, Amira?
SA'DI: I've been tutoring since I was 7 years old. So I deal with kids all the time. I'm pretty experienced with working with kids.
LIN: And yet when you graduated from college -- both of you went to school locally -- when you graduated from college, you chose different degrees. And you -- and you initially chose different professions. Why didn't you go into teaching?
THORNTON: Well, initially I graduated from Agnes Scott College with a degree in psychology and was premed and had planned on going to medical school. After working at Egleston Children's Hospital and then for a pediatrician, I realized really that the lifestyle of a pediatrician doesn't give me the family life that I'm going to want. So I started looking at other potential careers. And I realized that one had been staring at me all my life under my nose -- my mom is an educator -- and that I really wanted to teach.
LIN: It was in your blood.
THORNTON: Yes.
LIN: Now, Amira, it sounded like you had a really bad day at that packing plant that you were working at as an analyst.
(LAUGHTER)
SA'DI: Well, yes, the reason I really changed -- you know, I have an engineering degree from Georgia Tech. But it just really didn't motivate me. I needed something more personal, you know.
I know I have the content from my engineering degree, or what have you. But I want to be able to be proud of what I do and tell people that, you know, I'm happy for, you know, what I'm doing with my life. And also my high school physics teacher, Ms. Dodson (ph), from West Lake High School -- she teaches in the Fulton County system -- she really inspired me, and not only -- she made an impact not only educationally, but also personally. And I want to follow in her footsteps.
LIN: You know, you're doing it for all the right reasons, but let's tackle some of the criticism and the controversy right off the bat. Amira, it takes 120 hours -- semester hours at -- I think it's Georgia State University -- to get a teaching credential. You're going through three weeks. How can that possibly compare with getting an education degree?
SA'DI: Well, we've already got the content mastery because we have degrees in the area that we're going to be teaching. I actually talked to some teachers and they think it's a great idea because we bring something to the table that the students really need.
We know what it's like in the corporate world. And we know what they're going to be doing out there. And plus, Mercer has a really rigorous application process that they screened us. I think they really tried hard to make sure that what we lack in pedagogy, we make up for in passion. So we really want to do this. And that'll get us over and help us survive until the two years.
LIN: Motivation, no less.
SA'DI: Yes.
LIN: But are these kids in some way -- I mean, can it be argued that these kids really are guinea pigs? They're going to be trying them out on you and you're going to be tried out on them.
THORNTON: Well, this is not a substitute for a traditional four- year education degree. I don't think anybody says that we're going to start having this program now instead of -- and 86 the regular four- year degree.
However, given the shortage, our other options were long-term substitutes. And that's what -- who would be in the classroom next fall if it wasn't us or some provisional -- people with provision certifications. And at the secondary school level, people with provisional certifications don't need any education classes, not even a three-week these are the basic skills that you need to survive in the classroom for the next few months." So, actually, we're going to be...
(CROSSTALK)
LIN: You have been learning survival skills in your training, right?
SA'DI: Yes.
LIN: What do you mean by that?
THORNTON: Definitely.
SA'DI: We learned what to do when a kid breaks out crying in class, when somebody throws some paper, when we're insulted, when somebody jumps up and runs out of the room...
LIN: What do you do? What do you do?
SA'DI: Oh, Dr. Duggins (ph) taught us all the things. He said: Well, sometimes you give them a pass to go to your buddy teacher across the hall and sit there in the back and be quiet. Or -- he gave us different things we could say to the students to get them quiet and -- because that's real life.
LIN: Right.
SA'DI: Kids have issues. Everybody has issues. So we are learning how to handle both.
(CROSSTALK)
SA'DI: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
LIN: Hey, listen, we're -- we are going to have the pleasure of following you through your first year of teaching: all the highs, any of the lows. And we really want to thank you for sharing that experience. We're going to be bringing these two young talented women back on a regular basis to get an update.
So thank you so much, Kristen.
THORNTON: Thank you.
LIN: Thank you so much.
SA'DI: Thanks, Carol.
LIN: And we're really looking forward to sharing your experience.
I guess I should call you Ms. Thornton, huh? Get used to it. All right. Thanks so much.
Well, do you want to weigh in on the topic of training teachers? You can e-mail us. Our address: carolandcolleen@cnn.com.
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