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High school students interested in a career in the teaching profession have the opportunity to take a course at С����Ƶ that delves into important topics relevant to today’s educators while providing the opportunity to earn three college credits.
 
The course, IND-101: Introduction to Education, is offered to high school juniors and seniors who are participating in the Tomorrow’s Teachers program in their own schools. Tomorrow’s Teachers is an elective course taught in schools nationwide that provides high school students who are interested in becoming teachers with a chance to learn more about the profession. The goal is to help these students determine if a career in education is something that they would like to pursue in college. 
 
The Tomorrow’s Teachers course is offered in high schools in 38 states throughout the country. Since 2007, teachers from more than 300 high schools in New Jersey have been trained to teach the course.  
 
During the 2012–13 school year, Rider embarked on a partnership with Tomorrow’s Teachers and The Center for Future Educators at the College of New Jersey, which oversees the program in the state. This partnership allows high school students who are enrolled in the Tomorrow’s Teachers class at high schools in New Jersey to also earn college credits by successfully completing the course requirements for Introduction to Education as well as the Tomorrow’s Teachers class.
 
Dr. Tracey Garrett, a professor of teacher education in Rider’s College of Education and Human Services, developed the course and has taught it since its inception. She sees it as a way to not only enhance the experience of the Tomorrow’s Teachers students, but also to give them their first taste of the type of class an education major in college might take. “My goal is to expose them to the profession and get them to challenge their prior conceptions about teaching and learning,” she says.  
 
Over the course of the school year, students engage in a series of 13 online discussions covering a variety of topics, issues and trends in education. Some topics may require students to read or view accompanying material, including TED Talks, blog posts and journal articles. For every topic, students are required to respond a minimum of two times via the discussion board on the course’s online learning management system, first offering their thoughts on the subject, and then writing a secondary post that addresses the response of one of their classmates.
 
Garrett explains that the specific discussion topics were chosen with an eye towards what would best prepare students for when they begin taking education courses in college.  

“I took my experience teaching our foundations of education courses that we offer here at Rider, and I thought, ‘What would I want those students to know coming into these classes? What could I give them that would help them explore the profession and be helpful so that they have some prior knowledge of the teaching profession from the teacher perspective before they become students in pre-service programs?’” she says. “I thought we could give students a chance to connect with other high school students around the state and explore these different topics.”
 
Some of the topics that have resonated most strongly include technology use in the classroom, the amount of homework that students are assigned, the value of play in the classroom and the qualities that make an effective teacher. 
 
Kiera Kulaga, who is currently a junior at Rider majoring in elementary education and multidisciplinary studies, took the Introduction to Education course when she was a student at Middletown High School South. She says the experience had a great impact in affirming her desire to become a teacher. “Taking that course solidified my decision to go into education,” she says. “I was exposed to many interesting articles and TED Talks that really enhanced my knowledge on topics that I would not have known before coming into college.”
 
She adds that taking the college class gave her an advantage over her classmates in the Tomorrow’s Teacher’s course. “There was only one other student from my high school that took this course,” she says. “Considering that most of the course at my high school was more discussion based, I felt that this other student and I had more knowledge on certain topics and had something extra to bring into the class.”
 
Barbara Seaman, who is a Tomorrow’s Teachers instructor at Morris Knolls High School, believes the Rider course complements the course she teaches, and also helps prepare her students for what classes are like after high school. “The role Dr. Garrett’s course plays is vital,” she says. “The articles and assignments she gives the students allow them to see the level they will need to operate at when they enter college.”
 
Those interested in learning more about the Introduction to Education course can contact Dr. Garrett at tgarrett@rider.edu.