Education majors seek diverse student teaching experience in Texas

“When it comes to student teaching, if students want an out-of-state experience, we want them to know that Aldine is an option. If they want something unique, something different than what you would get in the Buffalo area, then Aldine is an option.”

That’s the message the Aldine Independent School District in Texas, working in partnership with the SUNY Fredonia Office of Field Experiences in the College of Education, Health Sciences, and Human Services, delivers on campus to prospective Aldine student teachers every fall and spring semester. Scott Corrick, the district’s executive director of talent acquisitions, meets each student teacher cohort to prepare them for their upcoming field placements in his district.

It’s also a message Aldine doesn’t make everywhere, and it’s one that clearly resounded with 13 student teacher candidates, including Holly Rohrbach, an Early Childhood/Childhood major with a Music concentration from Avon, NY, and Hannah Suchanick, a Childhood Inclusive Education major with an English concentration from Fredonia, NY. Both craved a student teaching opportunity that would take them out of their comfort zones.

Teacher candidates have been drawn to student teaching in Texas for many years. Not only are they given an experience teaching in a large urban district, students are immersed in a culturally diverse setting.” - Debra Karpinske-Keyser

“I have heard from my peers and professors that student teaching is the time to try new things: using new classroom management methods, trying different teaching strategies and expanding your language skills,” Ms. Rohrbach explained.

Having always lived in the same small town, she’s ready to experience something different, so choosing a teacher placement is no exception, adding, “Now is the time to take advantage of new opportunities and broaden my horizons!”

Rohrbach is one of seven teacher candidates with placements in the Aldine district in the Spring 2024 semester. These seven, combined with five students placed there in the Fall 2023 semester and another, an Adolescence Education: Social Studies candidate who did both placements in Aldine from August to December, constitute the largest SUNY Fredonia cohort ever in Aldine in the same academic year.

Initially, Ms. Suchanick didn’t see herself making the long trek to Aldine to student teach, preferring to stay entirely local for both senior field placements. “But the more I thought about it, the more I was inclined to go and explore outside of New York; not that New York isn’t a fantastic place, but there’s so much culture in Texas, and I’m so excited to learn to become a better educator working with those students,” Suchanick explained.

Rohrbach and Suchanick quickly became close friends, having attended many of the same classes together beginning in their sophomore year. They drove down to Texas together in late December and became housemates in a long-term Airbnb with two other friends, Sarah Minton and Logan Brown, who are majoring in Childhood Inclusive Education and Early Childhood Education, respectively. All four were assigned to Thomas Gray Elementary School.

“Fredonia and Aldine have done a fantastic job of communicating with each other, ensuring that we not only have a place to stay close to the school that we’re going to and also making sure that we are all in the same school,” said Suchanick. She’s placed in a second grade general classroom.

Rohrbach recalls being a bit anxious upon transferring to SUNY Fredonia after attending another SUNY school for a year. “I think transferring in made me a little nervous because I wasn’t going to know anybody in my classes, but as the years went on, I started getting more comfortable, because I knew so many of my classmates,” she said.

Initially a Music Education major, she chose to continue her education at SUNY Fredonia as an Early Childhood/Childhood Education major. She chose SUNY Fredonia because it offered an opportunity to have a Music concentration with a B.S.Ed. degree.

“I just really like working with kids, and it was something that I could see myself doing long-term, working with kids in any capacity, whether it was music or in the younger grades,” Rohrbach added.

Aldine, an urban district that serves portions of Houston and Harris County, Texas, has student teacher partnerships in several Midwest states. It also participates in the Teaching Recruitment Day in Buffalo, NY, but the only university partnership it has in New York state is with SUNY Fredonia. That collaboration is going strong as it enters its second decade.

“Most teacher candidates who participate elect to complete their first (senior) placement in Aldine, and the other in New York state,” said Debra Karpinske-Keyser, director of the Office of Field Experiences.

The SUNY Fredonia/Aldine spring cohort met Mr. Corrick on Nov. 30, 2023, to finalize their plans before departing New York at the end of December to begin January to March placements. The seven, whose majors include Childhood Inclusive Education, Early Childhood, and Early Childhood and Childhood Education, initially met Corrick in the Spring 2023 semester.

“It went really well,” Corrick said of their November follow-up session. “They’re curious as to what the campuses are like, curious about the curriculum and textbooks, what a typical day looks like,” he explained. Student teachers are treated as if they’re members of the staff and not someone from the outside, Corrick said.

“As most teacher candidates are, the seven students were nervous about their upcoming student teacher placements. However, after talking with Mr. Corrick, they were eager to begin their new adventure,” Mrs. Karpinske-Keyser explained. “They were especially excited to learn they will be in Houston during the rodeo in the spring semester.”

Corrick discussed what to expect during placements and offered a general overview of the Aldine district. Like Texas, Aldine’s numbers are large: 4,000 teachers, 86 schools across 64 campuses and a 111-square-mile footprint. Specific information about individual placements and final housing arrangements in the Houston area were detailed.

Corrick also gave a preview of major tourist attractions such as the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, a multi-week event that attracts four million people from around the world.

“We want them to have the entire experience, real Spanish culture, to experience Houston, and Austin, the live-music capital of the world,” Corrick remarked.

“Teacher candidates have been drawn to student teaching in Texas for many years. Not only are they given an experience teaching in a large urban district, students are immersed in a culturally diverse setting,” Karpinske-Keyser said. Student teaching there is also affordable and Aldine district representatives assist students in securing short-term housing. Weekly professional development meetings with teachers are held with the student teacher candidates who are drawn to Aldine from all over the world, Karpinske-Keyser noted.

Rohrbach, who’s been placed in a fourth-grade general classroom, believes she’ll benefit by experiencing a different part of the country while developing personal and professional connections across the United States. She also expects to add some Spanish language skills to her “teacher toolbox” by teaching in Texas.

“Some of my goals, though, are similar to those of my peers teaching in New York state; I am ready to become more comfortable teaching students and further develop my classroom management skills,” Rohrbach said.

The second field placements of Suchanick and Rohrbach will be local: Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES/LoGuidice Education Center, Fredonia, sixth grade, for Suchanick; Dunkirk School 5, second grade, for Rohrbach.

Half of the all 70 student teachers that Aldine brings on board each year are from outside of Texas.

Aldine provides student teachers a $3,750 stipend to help cover housing and transportation expenses and guarantees each a full-time teaching position upon successful completion of their degree program. Elizabeth Herman, a 2023 SUNY Fredonia graduate who earned a B.S.Ed. as a Childhood Inclusive Education major, student taught in Aldine last spring and is now a full-time teacher there. She also returned to campus to talk about her teaching experience there to prospective Aldine student teacher candidates.

What keeps Aldine coming back to SUNY Fredonia every year?

We want them to have the entire experience, real Spanish culture, to experience Houston, and Austin, the live-music capital of the world.” - Scott Corrick

“It’s the strength of the program; the kids are really prepared,” Corrick said. “The university does a great job of preparing these kids to take on challenges. Fredonia has very good teacher preparation programs. The kids are very successful in their time and some stay and take a job with us.”

“The student teachers are very prepared and eager to get out of New York state for a teaching experience, to take on a different challenge. This is a unique opportunity for kids willing to try that,” Corrick added. Karpinske-Keyser works closely with the student teachers to ensure they meet graduation requirements, he added.

SUNY Fredonia student teacher candidates can teach anywhere in New York state during their culminating clinical experiences, Karpinske-Keyser noted. “Most live in Chautauqua County and do their second placement (there), though some placements can be as far away as Long Island, NY.

Student teaching opportunities in Aldine are available for teacher candidates in the College of Education, Health Sciences, and Human Services; the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the School of Music.

For more information contact the SUNY Fredonia Office of Field Experiences via email or call (716) 673-3443.