Aspiring teachers unite at Future Educator Conference

COEUR d'ALENE — Someday, Andrew Nelson wants to work as a high school health teacher.

"I’ve had really cool teachers that taught me that it’s the teacher, not necessarily the subject,” Andrew said Friday.

The Coeur d'Alene High School senior said he has always been fascinated by medical professions.

"But I think going into actual medicine would be difficult and very time-consuming," he said. "And my hands are shaky, so practicing medicine would be hard. And it would be too much to remember."

He shared his career goals while waiting for a session to begin at the Future Educator Conference at North Idaho College, where about 30 high school juniors and seniors and 30 college students participated in a number of discussions and activities relevant to their futures working in academia.

“It’s amazing, I love being able to work with students and educators who have the same kind of mindset, just here to help serve and make learning fun,” said Jamie Newell, coordinator of Lewis-Clark State College's North Idaho PACE program, which offers K-8 certifications and endorsements for elementary educators.

Newell said the Future Educator Conference offered attendees opportunities to see things through different lenses and leave more knowledgeable about their field.

"We have such a huge impact, not only on our students and fellow peers but just the community in general,” she said.

A Future Educator Conference was held last year, but this was the first time it was supported by a $4,000 grant from the NIC Foundation, organizer Michelle Chmielewski said.

An assistant professor of education at NIC, Chmielewski is in her 25th year of teaching. She said the conference was held to help students decide if they want to go into education and re-affirm the decisions of those who are already on the path.

“Everybody’s sharing their ‘golden nuggets’ of information," she said.

Session topics included conversation-based pedagogy in the classroom, fostering powerful math conversations, re-imagining the idea of being "done," how to integrate the arts into the classroom and early childhood special education.

A few of those "golden nuggets" attendees shared during roundtable sessions were: “Keep going;” “Keep students on task;” “Don’t overwhelm students;” “Be willing to make sacrifices in order to do great things;” “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and learn from them."

Chmielewski said in her first year of teaching she learned the importance of finding a support system.

“Find a mentor that fits with your personality and who can help you, because there’s a lot to navigate," she said. "Your first year of teaching is a blur.

"The other thing is to make friends with the custodian and the secretaries, because they’re really running the place,” she added.

The conference was sponsored by the NIC Foundation and Lewis-Clark State College's divisions of Teacher Education and Mathematics, Humanities, Social Sciences and PLMSS.

    Jamie Newell, coordinator of Lewis-Clark State College's North Idaho PACE program in Coeur d'Alene, shares insight with peers Friday at the Future Educator Conference.
  

    April Niemela, secondary program coordinator for Lewis-Clark State College, speaks to attendees Friday during the Future Educator Conference at North Idaho College.