Future teachers, and current ones too, may wish they had Kelsey Gallagher’s good fortune.
When Kelsey sits down next semester in her advanced placement biology class, she will be learning the subject from a pro’s pro.
Kelsey, who will be a senior at Blue Valley West High School in Overland Park, will be a student of Kenneth Bingman, a member of the 2009 class of the National Teachers Hall of Fame and advanced placement and honors biology teacher at Blue Valley West.
Bingman has 46 years’ experience as a teacher; Kelsey was at Emporia State University this week to learn what it would take to become a teacher.
The pair was reunited Thursday afternoon, when Hall of Fame inductees took time to meet with the Future Teachers Academy participants, and to talk with them in small groups.
Other inductees who participated were Leslie Nicholas, seventh-grade English teacher from Kingston, Pa.; Steve Rapp, physics teacher in Abington, Va.; Patrice McCrary, kindergarten/grade one teacher from Bowling Green, Ky., and Jerry L. Parks, seventh-grade social studies teacher from Georgetown, Ky.
The Hall of Fame teachers discussed their attitudes toward their careers and answered questions from the future teachers.
Bingman received his master of science in biology from Emporia State in 1967, after earning a bachelor of science in science from the University of Kansas in 1963.
Among the honors he has received during his career are a Fulbright Memorial Fund Award and the National Biology Teacher of the Year, both in 1999; National Space Educator of the Year in 1989, and Kansas Presidential Award for Excellent in Science Teaching in 1984.
Kelsey was well-acquainted with Bingman’s reputation at Blue Valley West, and had often received instruction from him when she was a student of other teachers. Bingman drops in on other teachers’ classes, he said, and collaborates with them to educate the students.
“I’ve had many actual classes with him,” Kelsey said, describing laboratory work that included imprinting baby chickens to small toys. “He shows up in the classrooms, physics and chemistry.
“We basically all love him. He’s amazing. ... He’s hilarious. I think you just don’t notice you’re learning when he’s talking.”
Bingman is, she said, “extraordinary” in the way he does what she believes he loves most of all: teaching.
“He’s influential to all the students,” she said. “Even if you don’t have him, you know what he stands for.”
Kelsey came to ESU this summer to learn more about a career in education and to make sure she truly wanted to become a teacher.
She already knows what her foremost interests are and she wondered what it would be like to spark a similar reaction in others.
“I have passions for a couple of things,” she said. “I have a passion for music and I have a passion for literature and English.
“I could be a teacher and pass my passion down to another generation, and watch the culture grow.”
By her fifth day at the academy, any questions she had were laid to rest.
The speakers had been inspirational and helpful. There had been break-out sessions about different levels of teaching, subjects, technology, and other related topics.
“We basically got a taste of each kind of teaching,” she said, from preschool to older teens.
She heard what ESU would require of her to complete her degree and to get her teaching certificate, and was reassured that she would be able to have a double major.
She already works at a public farmstead in Overland Park, where she takes care of the concessions stand and leads ponies being ridden by young children. That will give her a good start on the 100 hours of community service work she must complete as part of her ESU graduation requirements.
The Future Teachers Academy gave her plenty to take home with her to Overland Park, in addition to introducing her to other young people with similar interests. She already has become fast friends with one of the girls at the academy, which has relieved a potential problem when she returns to ESU to begin classes in 2010.
“I’m going home with where I want to go, what I want to do,” Kelsey said. “And a roommate.”
Other high-school students in the Future Teachers Academy were:
Patricia Garcilazo and Abigail Ortiz, Emporia; Taylor Harmon, Americus; Elizabeth Karr and Katherine Smith, Allen; Mercedes LeVan, Olpe; Frank Decker II, Reading; Bayle Best and Natasha Evilsizer, Marquette; Amanda Birnbaum, Colleen Cavanaugh and Emily Vogt, Olathe; Rachel Buckles, Haley Padilla, and Brooke Schultz, Topeka; Malissa Carey, Princeton; Allison Chael and Victoria Johnson, Lenexa.
Also, Ryan Daniels, Roeland Park; Austine Dole, Norton; Mackenzie Doty, Olathe; Jeff Durbin, Fort Scott; Adam Ferenc, Andover; Kelsey Gallagher and Kristen Hjelmaas, Overland Park; Kimberly Hoedl, Merriam; Alex Johnston, Shawnee Mission.
Also, Katherine Kennedy, Paola; Jenna Kinnett, Goddard; Doricka Menefee and CleoAnne Worthan, Wichita; Alexandria Mott, Eudora; Jordan Powers, Augusta; Erin Ritter, Shawnee; Peter Ruby, Silver Lake; Claritsa Santiago, Kansas City; Caitlin Scheckel, Richmond; Kaitlyn Schwartz, Fort Leavenworth; and Marie Stoss, Salina.