Photo by: Henoc Kivuye
While looking forward to retirement, Associate Professor of Education Caren Feuerhelm continues to take the opportunity to teach something to Oklahoma Christian University students.
“Being called ‘teacher’ is an honor,” Feuerhelm said. “I hope that I have modeled the teaching that lifts my former students to this place of respect and love from their students.”
Feuerhelm has continued to inspire Oklahoma Christian education majors since the fall of 2002, according to senior Sarah Ulrich.
“Just her passion alone inspires everyone that she comes in contact with,” Ulrich said. “Not only that, but she’s also incredibly helpful and has a passion for teaching future teachers.”
Early childhood education majors are required to take 60 hours of field experience, divided between two NAEYC [National Association for the Education of Young Children] accredited sites.
“We go to a cancer treatment center for practicum and she comes with us on Thursdays,” senior Emily Cates said. “The way she interacts with [the children], you can tell she was meant to be a teacher for her entire life. That’s just one of the ways that makes me want to be like that one day.”
The course gives future teachers the opportunity to engage in activities with young children and their families based on what they have studied in previous or concurrent early childhood coursework.
“I claim that I have the best of both worlds in my current teaching career,” Feuerhelm said. “I have the privilege of teaching prospective teachers, but I also get to be in the classroom with young children.”
By teaching future teachers, Feuerhelm is able to focus on practicing her skills from earlier jobs while building lasting relationships with the college-age workforce she’s helping to prepare.
“I hope that I have fostered each one’s development into the teacher that stands in loco parentis with every child who walks into their classrooms,” Feuerhelm said. “I tell my teacher candidates that when the child enters the classroom, the teacher goes into self-forgetful mode so that he/she can become what the child needs.”
To “stand in loco parentis” is to be in the place of a parent and refers to the legal responsibility of a person to take on some of the functions and responsibilities of a parent.
“Teaching is difficult,” Feuerhelm said. “[We should] stand strong, do right by children, be knowledgeable of children’s development and current education practices so you can explain and defend teaching practices, be purposeful and intentional in your profession, and most of all, enjoy the relationships you form with children and their families.”
Despite the seemingly long-instilled passion to teach, Feuerhelm didn’t always expect to become a teacher.
“I intended to be a legal secretary,” Feuerhelm said. “I honestly believe that it was not until I was hired as a teacher that I finally made the commitment that this was my profession. My first teaching job was in a kindergarten classroom in Guthrie. This was followed by teaching in Moore and Piedmont, all as a kindergarten teacher. When my children were born, I was blessed to be a stay-at-home-mom. However, teaching was in my system and as soon as my children were three and four, I became a substitute teacher in the Putnam City School District.”
As her children grew up, Feuerhelm re-entered the classroom full time. It was the pursuit of higher education that pushed Feuerhelm into teaching at the collegiate level.
“While working on my doctorate at Oklahoma State, I was asked to teach college classes,” Feuerhelm said. “I fell in love with this teaching.”
After working at Oklahoma State University’s College of Education, Feuerhelm was asked by Oklahoma Christian’s Dean of the College of Education at the time, Harriet McQueen, to advise student-teachers for a fall semester. Eventually, Feuerhelm was hired as an adjunct and then as a full-time professor.
“Every day in the classroom is a struggle,” Feuerhelm said. “Teaching requires thinking on your feet and constantly adjusting to the moment. Teaching often requires parenting because you are charged with the well-being of the children in your classroom while they are with you. Teaching requires standing up for what you know about child development and promising that you will not push any child to frustration. Teaching requires that you work with parents in the common goal of doing what is best for the child.”
With retirement on the horizon, Feuerhelm leaves a new class of teachers to be hopefully inspired and cultivated by her example.
“She is my favorite teacher here,” Cates said. “I’m so sad that she’s leaving. She’s kind of a motherly figure to a lot of people.”
Through difficult times in her students’ own family situations, Feuerhelm was able to recognize the fundamental responsibility a teacher has to nurture her students.
“When my mom got cancer, she was one of the first people I told,” Ulrich said. “She would constantly check up on me and constantly check up on my mom. … She just has a way with words, even by just sitting there listening to you. She’s the most compassionate person and we’ve really built more of a relationship with her than just a professor-student relationship.”
The professor-student relationships on Oklahoma Christian’s campus often ring of friendship, bonds and laughter. This same instance is true in the lives of so many teachers that have learned under Feuerhelm’s watchful eye, according to senior Erica Edwards.
“I love Dr. Feuerhelm,” Edwards said. “She has been my advisor, mentor, role model and even friend over the past four years. … I will never forget the lessons she has taught me about children, education and life. I will forever be grateful for Caren and her selfless personality.”
0
0
Be First to Comment