Hector Charles and Samantha Delgado are two among the hundreds of students who will receive degrees from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley this spring, but they are notable because they will graduate as certified high school math teachers under UTRGV UTeach, the secondary teacher preparation program for math and science majors.
The 40 members of the 2021 spring semester UTeach graduating class will walk in a ceremony at 8 a.m. Saturday May 8 in Brownsville. They will also have a virtual ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Thursday via Faceebook Live.
UTeach is an interactive model for training new teachers developed at the University of Texas at Austin that has been adopted by colleges and universities across the country. During its five-year period as a replication grant, UTRGV UTeach graduated 92 students. In its fifth year it surpassed all UTeach programs in the nation with an active enrollment of 485 students.
During the 2020-2021 academic year UTeach UTRGV graduated 99 math and science majors with teaching certifications, “pretty amazing any year but especially during a pandemic,” Elizabeth Goldberg, science master teacher and assistant professor in practice in the UTeach program, said in an email.
Charles and Delgado both graduated from Rivera Early College High School, where both are now doing their student teaching, and each under the teacher who inspired them to become a teacher.
“She’s one of the reasons why I love math and why I decided to become a math teacher,” Charles said of Elvira Vera, his College Algebra teacher at Rivera and now his mentor teacher.
Charles said he was unsure about being able to do the lesson planning required of teachers but UTeach built his confidence from the get-go.
“I love math but I struggled with lesson planning,” he said. “During sophomore and junior year I actually got to where I love it.”
The program starts with Step I and Step II, one credit-hour courses in which students practice actual teaching and lesson planning under the guidance of master teachers. In the Step I class, UTCH 1101, students teach three actual lessons to elementary school students using pre-provided lesson plans. The Step II class, UTCH 1102, Inquiry-Based Lesson Design, focuses on “preparing, teaching, and assessing” three inquiry-based math or science lessons to public middle school students, according to the course description.
“If you’re interested or even slightly interested in teaching,” the Step I and Step II courses help you decide if teaching is really for you, Charles said.
The UTeach program allows students to earn a bachelor’s of science degree and teaching certification at the same time, which the university says doubles their career options.
It allows students to earn a bachelor’s of science degree in biology, chemistry or physics with a 7th-12th grade UTeach science certification, or in a bachelor of science in mathematics with either 7th-12th grade or 4th-8th grade UTeach math certification, according to Uteach program information.
Charles said Vera, his mentor teacher, has been a great help.
“She’s given me so much information about what a teacher actually does, and not just instruction. It’s more than that — the paperwork, professional development and making sure you stay in contact with the parents,” he said.
He and Delgado said parental contact has been especially important this pandemic year with almost all students attending class remotely and the tendency to do other things besides school while attending class online.
Delgado said the Step I class helped her get over the fear of actually teaching in front of students.
“From the start I was a little bit nervous about speaking in front of people, so the nervousness started to gradually get better until now I don’t get that nervous at all,” she said.
Then, from the Step II class to creating interactive lessons and engaging the students, “I started to say ‘yeah I do enjoy this … I want to create these interactive lessons,’” she said.
Delgado and Charles both reached the point in the program where they had to pass two key exams before being cleared for student teaching at about the same time the pandemic arrived last year. Luckily, UTeach decided to be flexible on the Pedagogy and Professional Responsibility and content exams.
Both also said they missed teaching in front of a class instead of just remotely.
