Des Moines program encourages minority students to pursue teaching

Central Campus will expand its Urban Teacher Academy program next year to include freshmen and sophomores as more young Des Moines students show interest in pursuing teaching as a career. 

The announcement came Thursday during a daylong program for 170 middle and high school students involved in Des Moines Public Schools' Dream to Teach program.

Launched in 2014, Dream to Teach is an extracurricular activity that aims to establish a supply line of minorities into a profession where they are underrepresented.

Students in grades 6-12 are assigned teacher mentors who encourage them in their quest to teach. D2T also forges partnerships with community and higher education institutions to provide scholarships and other supports.

The program currently has chapters in seven of the 10 district middle schools and all five comprehensive high schools.

“Starting next year, we will offer introductory teaching courses (Equity in Education and Career Opportunities in Education) for ninth-graders,” Central Campus Director Aiddy Phomvisay said. “Already more than 50 students have enrolled, but we still have room for more. This is an important bridge we have needed.”

The Urban Teacher Academy is currently limited to juniors and seniors. There are 31 students enrolled in the program. 

Des Moines' budding teacher spent Thursday's listening to guest speakers and taking part in breakout sessions. 

The keynote speaker was Kenneth Gaskin, who is in his second year of teaching fifth grade at Cattell Elementary.

Gaskin is a rarity: an African-American male, elementary school teacher. His presentation, "Be You, Stay True, Make Moves" outlined his winding journey into the field that sorely needs him and others like him.

“When Carrie (Romo) first invited me to speak, I wasn’t sure that I have enough experience,” Gaskin said. “But then I realized how important representation is. I only had one teacher of color growing up (in Pennsylvania and Iowa).”

Attracting minority teachers is especially important for a district like Des Moines where students of color are a majority of enrollment.

Gaskin said that he hopes it means as much to his students to see him at the front of the classroom as it does to him to teach them.

“When I got the call offering me a full-time job at DMPS (after a year of subbing), I did a little dance,” Gaskin said. 

His audience of educator wannabes spent the rest of the day dreaming up some moves of their own.

This story first appeared on Des Moines Public Schools' website. It has been edited for publication.