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The Future Educators Association is an international organization that serves to promote teaching as a challenging and rewarding career. This goal is especially important in critical shortage areas such as math, science and special education. Also, FEA is dedicated to attracting exemplary future educators, especially those from varied cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
The national FEA website asks would-be educators, “Are you strong, creative and bold enough for the job?” And the Ramstein High School FEA is no different.
“The good health of our nation’s schools depends on bringing into classrooms new teachers who are the brightest and best among today’s students,” said sponsor Bamma McCoy.
These new teachers must not only have a realistic understanding of teaching as a profession, but also be equipped with numerous unique skills.
Currently, RHS has 25 members in its FEA and an elected board, including president Connor Walters, vice president Rachel Plescha and historian Megan O’Day. McCoy has been the sponsor over the last five years and has seen the group grow and take on more student-level responsibility. Interestingly, while education still tends to be a female dominated field, the RHS association has a higher percentage of boys participating and the group has its first male president.
So, what do FEA members do? According to this year’s theme, they strive to “engage, encourage and inspire.” They accomplish this goal by meeting weekly and going through a series of student-led exercises that explore teaching as a career option and focus on educational issues that are relevant to the profession.
Another main objective of the association is to prepare for the annual FEA conference, which is held from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 in Garmisch, Germany. The conference affords students the opportunity to attend workshops ranging from learning styles and strategies to the psychology of learning and educational technology. Additionally, there will be guest speakers presenting, such as the 2012 Teacher of the Year, student teacher interns and Ramstein High’s very own Michael Brust, who will introduce FEA members to the concept of flipped mastery.
The FEA conference also offers education focused competitions. There is an impromptu speaking competition in which students are presented a dilemma and then asked to come up with a solution. After the solution is presented, opposing teams are given the opportunity to provide constructive criticism to the other teams.
Junior Bobby Ramirez, who has been described by McCoy as being an excellent public speaker and having a commanding presence, is a likely candidate to compete in the impromptu competition.
Also in preparation for the conference, FEA members must produce a 10-minute lesson plan and record themselves teaching that lesson. This year, RHS FEA members are going to Ramstein Elementary School to teach a good health-themed lesson that focuses on healthy eating. The conference also features a logo and a public service announcement competition. Junior Devin McGleean has created this year’s logo and the members have chosen the theme “Do Something Big” for their public service announcement.
Ten members are going to the conference this year and various forms of fundraising have already taken place. One of the primary fundraisers has been working in the school store. However, the Veterans of Foreign Wars has generously donated $400 to the conference fund. Also, the FEA members are using a video presentation to request funds from the PTSO. Senior Lauren Codina described the FEA conference as an “opportunity to learn methods that you can not only use when teaching children, but skills you can use in other real life situations.”
It is clear that educators make a huge impact on not only students in the classroom, but society as a whole. The importance of the FEA thus cannot be understated. All of the experiences FEA students gain from participation in the association appreciably contribute to the growth and development of the future generation of dedicated, skillful and innovative educators.
Walters, a junior, summed up the importance of the FEA when he said, “FEA enlightens students as to how teaching affects kids. By realizing teaching is a great profession at an early age, while still in school, it sheds a whole new light on how much teachers care and how hard they work.”
(by Holly Freeman)
