TOP OF THE CLASS
Recent ECU graduate named North Carolina Student Teacher of the Year
An East Carolina University graduate and preschool teacher has won the first North Carolina Student Teacher of the Year award.
Amanda Blakley, who leads the 4-year-old classroom at ECU’s Nancy W. Darden Child Development Center, accepted the award on Sept. 22 at the annual North Carolina Association of College and Teacher Educators fall forum in Raleigh. Blakley was one of 13 nominees from teacher preparation programs at universities across the state. She received a plaque and $2,000 in recognition of her work as a student teacher before graduating in May from ECU.
A native of White Plains, Maryland, Blakely completed her student teaching internship at Eastern Elementary School in Washington, North Carolina. She participated in a co-teaching research model with the classroom teacher, sharing the responsibilities of planning, teaching, assessing and documenting strategies.
“The entire student teaching internship was a rewarding experience,” Blakley said. “ECU gave me the tools needed to be successful in teaching so I was able to build respect and rapport with the children.”
Barbara Brehm, coordinator of ECU’s undergraduate birth-through-kindergarten teacher education program, served as Blakley’s academic advisor and clinical instructor in her capstone methods course, Learning Environments and Teaching Methods in Early Childhood Education.
“I have seen firsthand from Amanda’s first year at ECU her academic excellence, professional outlook and demeanor, and understanding of how young children learn and, therefore, how young children need to be most effectively taught and assessed,” Brehm said. “At the awards ceremony I just knew her name would be called, but when it was our whole table jumped up in surprise. And then, of course, the call went out: “Purple, Gold!”
Blakely said she chose ECU because of the small classes and program, which emphasizes 21st century skills including critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity.
Student Zoe Vinogradov writes on a white board as Gavin Berrini waits his turn in the Nancy W. Darden Child Development Center. Their teacher, Amanda Blakley, received a statewide teaching award.
“The individualized attention that I received from each professor enabled me to take risks and think outside the box because I knew they would give me feedback,” Blakely said.
“Amanda is driven by feedback…and applied it immediately in her instruction to take her teaching to the next level,” said Ashley Norris, faculty member in the Department of Human Development and Family Science, who served as Blakley’s clinical supervisor.
Of all the lessons Blakley learned as a student teacher, patience is paramount, she said.
“It’s easy to have patience and problem solving skills when you are in the classroom for two hours but it’s a whole new world teaching a full day,” she said. “No matter how exhausted I became, I had to remember they are still 5 and 6-year-old children who need help with basic life skills.”
Blakley is enrolled in the human development and family science graduate program in the College of Health and Human Performance at ECU. She hopes to eventually teach at the university level and own and operate an early childhood educational center.
The birth-through-kindergarten program in the College of Health and Human Performance nominated Blakley through the Council on Educator Preparation in the College of Education.
The new award is given by the North Carolina Association of Colleges and Teacher Educators, whose members include faculty in public and private colleges and universities, staff and faculty in state-created initiatives and associations and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. NC-ACTE is the lead advocacy group for policy issues regarding teacher preparation in North Carolina, according to its website, http://www.ncacte.org/
Amanda Blakley interacts with student Jameson Williamson in East Carolina University’s Nancy W. Darden Child Development Center.