Future Ready Friday Feature: CTE Teaching and Training Students on an Inspired Path to be Texas’s Next Great Educators with 4 Awarded Scholarships

A first grade class full of energy and character at Goliad Elementary welcomed Lake View High School Senior Zenida Dominguez with open minds and hearts. Zenida, or Ms. Z, as the students affectionately called her, was there not only to help with their educational experience, but also as a step toward her own future hopes and dreams to one day become an educator. On a similar journey, but skipping ahead a few years, Central High School alumni and senior Angelo State Early Childhood Education Major Erin Rauch Burd, reflects on her practicum, in-class experience teaching 4th graders at Fort Concho as as “phenomenal experience” that solidified her decision to one day be a teacher. In this month’s Future Ready Friday Feature, we continue our celebration of Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month by highlighting our Teaching and Training Pathway in CTE, and congratulating four outstanding students in that pathway who were recently awarded scholarships at the 3rd Annual 2022 Rise and Teach Education Conference: 

• Christine Martinez, Central High School senior and Education Service Center Region 15 Scholarship Recipient,
• Jazmin Garcia, Central High School senior and HEB Scholarship Recipient,
• Lonissa Green, Central High School senior and HEB Scholarship Recipient, and
• Zenida Dominguez, Lake View High School senior and HEB Scholarship Recipient.

These CTE Teaching and Training students received the scholarships at the Rise and Teach Conference hosted by the Region 15 Education Service Center at the Angelo State University campus last month. The conference is geared to supporting the next great Texas educators, also included speakers like ASU Dean of the College of Education, Dr. Scarlet Clouse, and Region 15 Teacher of the Year, SAISD’s Mrs. Sylvia Graves as well as an expert panel, and a variety of breakout sessions.

The Conference was one more opportunity for SAISD CTE Teaching and Training students to continue building knowledge and experience related to their chosen pathway, and to step into the shoes of college students currently enrolled at ASU.

Our CTE Teaching and Training pathway prepares students for careers related to teaching, instruction and creation of instructional and enrichment materials. It is also designed to familiarize students with the processes for developing curriculum, coordinating education content and coaching groups and individuals. With four level courses beginning with “Principles of Education and Training” and culminating in the “Practicum in Education and Training” in-classroom teaching experience, students have the opportunity to build a foundation of understanding and hands-on experience. Students in the pathway note that the in-classroom experience provides invaluable insight into teaching as well as determine if that truly is the career path of their choice. They had this to share about the experience:

• “In the 1st grade class at Goliad, I learned how to teach students. I would write down things that the teacher would do in my journal. One day I got to teach and do reading time and math with the students.They all learn differently, and teaching to them in the way they learn is one of my takeaways from the experience. I also learned to care for a class, have that one-on-one bond with students and create a space of support and love.” - LVHS Senior Zenida Dominguez
• “I got to go out into the elementary classrooms and really engage with the students, be there every day and get involved with the class and students, and know what it's like to be a teacher... I had a friend who took the class with me, and we were both like, ‘We want to be teachers. This is great.’ For me, going into the classroom really solidified this is what I want to do- I want to be a teacher. But for her, she decided she wants to be a child psychologist now. If there’s a possibility you want to be a teacher, take the class to see if this is what you want to do.” - ASU Senior Early Childhood Education Major Erin Rauch Burd

On a similar path as ASU Senior Erin, Lake View High School Senior Zenida plans to pursue a career in education and will start at ASU in the Fall. She is still deciding what specific area of education, but says she is inspired by little kids and hopes to pursue her masters after her bachelors.

Both Erin and Zenida noted impactful educators who helped shape their ideas of great teaching and purpose-driven future plans. Erin thanked her CHS Math teacher Ms. Julie Wheat and her CTE Teacher, now Director of CTE, Roxanne Fentress. Zenida expressed appreciation and inspiration from LVHS CTE teacher Ms. Brittany Sanchez, who she said creates a class environment filled with energy and positivity.

San Angelo ISD is proud to support the hopes and dreams of our students and celebrate all the ways they are smart, and the CTE Teaching and Training Pathway is one more way - with rippling effects to help further the important work of public education. SAISD appreciates the support and collaboration of our CTE educators, the Region 15 Education Service Center, ASU, and Howard College, who partner with us to lift up the hopes and dreams of our students and provide them unique opportunities like in-classroom experiences and the Rise and Teach Conference.

Future Ready Fridays

At San Angelo ISD, we are committed to our mission of engaging all students in a relevant and inspiring education that produces future-ready graduates. We value the hopes and dreams of each child, and along their educational journey, provide students customizable options to prepare for their future. In celebration of this commitment in action, SAISD launched our “Future Ready Fridays” features in 2021 that will be shared on the third Friday of every month of the school year. Each Future Ready Friday we will feature different ways the District is supporting our students and helping them to be “future ready” whether that future is the military, workplace, further academic studies or other opportunities. Join along by sharing ways your San Angelo ISD student is being prepared for their future by using the hashtag #FutureReadyatSAISD.

To stay up-to-date on San Angelo ISD, please visit the SAISD website at www.saisd.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.