MY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

The Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication has teamed up with the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education to mold the creative and capable teachers of Oklahoma’s future.

​

 This fall, the two colleges introduced applications for teaching certification in language arts to professional writing students. The certification will set students up to teach for grades 6-12. Minors and electives will be swapped for professional education courses. Students will receive recommendations for Oklahoma teacher certifications upon the completion of a full-time student teaching internship.  

There is an unmistakable need for professionally-prepared teachers in Oklahoma. Those emergency certified teachers filling up your little sibling’s high school? Yeah, they aren’t cutting it. According to a report by the Oklahoma Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, there have been over 3,000 emergency teacher certificates issued since 2018. Alongside the rise in emergency certifications, a report from the Center for American Progress details how nationwide enrollment for teacher preparation programs has continued to drop drastically since 2010.

Rainbolt isn’t about to come to the table empty-handed, though. Students interested in the language arts certification will proudly be presented with meaty grants, angelic loan forgiveness programs, and bountiful scholarships. In the last year, Rainbolt boasts it showered students in over $330,000 in scholarships and funding. At this rate, you could potentially become a respectable, certified teacher for the low, low price of free.

Four years ago, professional writing professor Mel Odom proposed a partnership with the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education for his students to be able to become teachers, as he had done later in life. Mel noticed many of his former students went on to teach after they had graduated from Gaylord, and so sought out an easier pathway for future students.

Now, his students can graduate with proper authorship and teachership training. Mel hopes that he can save these students both time and money with this program.

Professional writing sophomore Mason Wenzel boldly went where no professional writing major had gone before when he took the first step toward achieving his teacher certification by applying for the program. A charismatic leader, Mason enjoys bringing different groups together to eradicate the formation of cliques. His experience in theater inspired him to seek out a career path which would allow him to continue working with people rather than live the solitary existence of a self-appointed writer.

English education professor Dr. Lawrence Baines believes professional writing majors will make perfect teachers. "The things writers have is adaptability," Dr. Baines explained. Writers are quick to adapt to ever-changing markets and the classroom is where adaptability reigns supreme. Writers are also a determined lot. It takes perseverance to create bodies of work, and that learned discipline is a necessity when dealing with students. But students also provide more potential story material than you can shake a stick at.

Being an influencer of the minds of our youth can sound particularly seductive, but let’s say all that power is still not enough. If you aren’t a bleeding heart or a megalomaniac, why would you care about some teaching gig? The answer can be found in the magic of practicality.

Because one day the chains of capitalism will be drawn taut against your throat like the garrote of progress. Your magnum opus, the next Great American Novel, is taking longer than you had expected and funds are running low. It’s time to face the facts and submit to the stability of a steady income, you rampaging muse-chaser. With a teaching certificate, you could be the next paragon in the long lineage of authors who led classrooms as their day jobs.

If you've been looking for a sign, here it is, champ. Pull your head out of the clouds for a moment and don’t let this opportunity pass you by!