From the hardcourt to the classroom: Ensuring success

  Monday, October 2, 2017 2:00 AM
  News, Academics

Pittsburg, KS

From the hardcourt to the classroom: Ensuring success

Mikaela Burgess understands a thing or two about the importance of teamwork in pressure situations.

A fourth-year senior and captain of the Pittsburg State University women’s basketball team, Burgess and her teammates have played against some of the nation’s best competition on its biggest stage, including three NCAA Division II Region championship tournaments and one Elite Eight. 

As an Early Childhood Education major, Burgess is now finding herself facing a different type of pressure and performing in front of a different type of audience: as a student teacher to 24 second graders in Carl Junction, Mo.

Her decision to become a teacher couldn’t come at a better time for area school districts, many of which are facing a teacher shortage. A recent regional survey by Pittsburg State’s College of Education predicts area school districts will need to fill as many as 1,386 teaching positions by the year 2020.

Jean Dockers, director of Teacher Education and assistant professor in the PSU’s College of Education, said numbers like these are cause for concern.

“Teaching is the one profession that touches every life,” said Dockers. “If we don’t have qualified teachers in the classroom, our children and our society suffer. Teachers, especially early childhood educators, teach students how to read, write, solve problems, and work as a team. These skills are the foundation for a successful life.”

Early childhood majors at Pittsburg State will complete close to 1,000 hours of field work before graduation. Such a large amount of classroom experience places Pittsburg State students in high demand upon graduation.

But when you’re a student-athlete competing for your school, those 1,000 hours also place a heavy burden upon what is already a full schedule.

Fortunately, Pittsburg State coaches and faculty work together to make certain a academics remain a student-athlete’s priority.

Women’s Basketball Head Coach Lane Lord has shifted his team’s practice times to accommodate players’ academic schedules.

“We have a lot of outstanding student-athletes who care about academics,” said Lord. “That’s why we recruited them. We’re going to do whatever we have to do to get them all together for practice without sacrificing class time. If that means holding practice from 9 to 11 at night, that’s what we’ll do. We want to win games but the focus is always on academics first.”

This commitment to academics isn’t limited to practice times. Student-athletes are provided schedules well in advance and communicate planned absences with their professors early in order to avoid confusion or missed scores. Many faculty will work to accommodate student-athletes when they travel to compete on behalf of the university.

“I can’t say enough about our faculty,” said Lord. “They do a fantastic job of working with our players. They will allow them to turn in assignments on the road via e-mail. We even had players attending class via Skype last year while they were in their hotel in Puerto Rico in between tournament games. Coaches and faculty all work together and it’s for one reason; our students.”

The results of that type of cooperation and focus on academics are reflected in the team’s overall grade point average (G.P.A.). Pittsburg State’s 2016 team G.P.A. of 3.7 earned it a seventh place tie on the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Academic Honor Roll.

Burgess agreed with Coach Lord’s assessment of academic priority. She credits the professors within the College of Education with helping nurture her passion for teaching.

“The professors invest in you 100 percent,” said Burgess. “Because they were classroom teachers. They do a great job of making you feel excited and cared for, which is something I’m taking into my own classroom. I definitely made the right choice in coming to Pitt State.”

Dockers said this type of attention comes from the heart, but more than that, it plays an important role in the development of young educators.

“All of our faculty have been in the classroom,” said Dockers. “We understand the situations our students will face because we’ve lived it. This allows us to talk about concepts and teach pedagogy in a manner that makes it real for our students. We try to be models in the classroom because, in reality, we’re teaching our colleagues of the future.”

As Burgess looks ahead to her final year of competition at Pittsburg State, she has one particular game marked on her calendar: The Gorillas will play Bethany College in exhibition contest at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct.  27, at John Lance Arena. The university is inviting elementary school children from throughout the region to the game, including Burgess’ second grade class from Carl Junction.

“I know I’ll be so nervous,” Burgess said with a smile, “because I don’t want them to think ‘Ms. Burgess’ isn’t any good. We talk with them a lot about college and what you want for your future. For them to be able to come to this campus, and be in this atmosphere … it’s going to be so much fun. With all of those screaming kids, they’ll probably be the loudest ones.”

For more about PSU's College of Education, visit www.pittstate.edu/college/education/


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