Teaching provides ‘holistic experience’

During her time at Tulane, graduating senior Erin Weisman has devoted over 500 hours to service in classrooms throughout New Orleans. Committed to changing lives for the better, Weisman teaches during the day and attends her education classes in the evening.

Weisman will receive a bachelor of arts degree with a psychology and early childhood education major from the School of Science and Engineering on May 14. She is part of Tulane’s Teacher Preparation and Certification Program.

“The education department does a good job of getting you out of your bubble and putting you in diverse classrooms,” Weisman said. Last year, she traveled abroad to Denmark where she worked with children ages 3–6.

“The education department does a good job of getting you out of your bubble and putting you in diverse classrooms.”

Erin Weisman, psychology and early childhood education major

In 2015, the teacher certification program received a grant for the development of a yearlong teacher residency program. Weisman is among the first group to participate in the program. She and five other Tulane students started at Lusher Charter School in uptown New Orleans in August 2015. They are continuing their work through this May.

Unlike traditional, semester-long student-teacher programs, the Tulane teacher-residency program is for an entire school year. The teacher-residents teach and attend all the professional development sessions that full-time faculty do.

“With this program, I have been treated like a co-teacher,” Weisman said. She is an equal partner in both lesson planning and classroom management.

“I’m getting a holistic experience,” she said.

Upon graduation, she will receive both her degree and her teacher certification.

Weisman, whose hometown is Los Angeles, will then begin her professional teaching career at Adas Israel School in Washington, D.C., where she will work with preschool children. The position, she hopes, will be permanent.

The 2016 Commencement ceremony will be streamed live online. Follow us on social media at #tulane16.

Jamie Logan is a junior majoring in English and classical studies with a minor in psychology at Tulane University.