May 24, 2004

VCU School of Education professor goes back to school

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By Mike Frontiero
VCU School of Education

School of Education professor Jill E. Fox (left) taught kindergarten in Richmond for one year to reacquaint herself with the classroom and try new teaching methods. Photo courtesy of Jill E. Fox
School of Education professor Jill E. Fox (left) taught kindergarten in Richmond for one year to reacquaint herself with the classroom and try new teaching methods. Photo courtesy of Jill E. Fox

After nine years of educating new elementary school teachers, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education Associate Professor Jill E. Fox decided it was time to return to her roots for a year to make sure she could still practice what she teaches.

Fox is a regional representative of the National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE) which promotes the professional growth of its membership and discussion of educational issues, and advocates for improvements in early childhood teacher education.

Before coming to VCU, she had taught kindergarten and first grade in the public schools in Texas for eight years, beginning in 1983 in inner-city Dallas. "There's a perception that university professors don't know what the real world is like anymore, and that we focus on theory and lose our connection to practice," said Fox. "I wanted to demonstrate to my students and colleagues that I can do the things I discuss in class and do them well."

So in fall 2003, her department head allowed her to take a couple of semesters off from teaching at VCU and teach kindergarten full time, three days a week, at Mary Munford Elementary School in Richmond. The experience has allowed her to try out new methods in early childhood education and reacquaint herself with the classroom. "The teaching process hasn't really changed much from when I was a kindergarten teacher," she said.

"Increasingly, professors of teacher education are spending time in schools as supervisors of student teachers and as providers of professional development," said Dr. Francis Rust, immediate past president of NAECTE and Dean of Education at City College of New York.

Fox will resume her VCU teaching duties when Richmond's school year ends in June. She isn't the only VCU School of Education professor to go back to school. In recent years, Leila Christenbury and Judy Richardson have taught high school courses in Chesterfield and Hanover counties part time.