Written by, Emily Jenkins
Students in the UMHB College of Education serve children with special needs and receive hands-on experience outside the classroom at the Marek-Smith Center for Teacher Preparation, which opened in March 2024.
Senior education major with a special education concentration Cameron Resek and senior educational advocacy major Brook Srnick both shared that their experience teaching at the Marek-Smith Center helps them apply what they have learned in the classroom.
Resek said she likes being able to work with students one-on-one. The student teachers work with their students after lectures, applying what they have learned in class. Resek said, “In doing this, it’ll make a classroom setting a lot more comfortable for me. So, like, if I do have students with disabilities in my classroom, like, I know how to work with them and how they best learn.”
Srnick added that lesson planning at the Marek-Smith Center is beneficial because the future teachers can base the lessons on the students’ needs, and they get to see the students’ likes and dislikes in each room. Srnick added that the student teaching there also helps the students who come “because they are able to get so much out of it, even if it’s just for a little bit of time.”
Resek and Srnick both said that teaching at the Marek-Smith Center is full of meaning for the students, the parents, and the student teachers.
Srnick shared, “I had a nonverbal kid, and he couldn’t speak, and when we were working, and we worked for like four weeks, he was able to say one letter in the alphabet. And that just, like, made me so happy, and his parents, like, had tears because they were so happy, and I feel like that’s such, like, a special moment. I feel like those are the moments that, like, make it all worth it, and I feel like that was really sweet, like, being able to do that for not only him but for his parents to see that.”
Additionally, Resek had an older student who disliked coming to lab. She could see that he did not want to be there. However, as Resek reached week four or five, her students were excited to come and learn. “Being able to see the difference that you’re making in, like, the students’ lives is just really, really meaningful too.”
In addition to this older student, Resek likes the variety of different students she teaches. Resek said, “They’re all different, so it allows me to do different lessons and do different things with them… So, I’ve learned so much on what to do with an older kid versus a kindergartener. I just like the variety that we have here throughout all three of the lab classes.”
Srnick said she liked how their experience prepares the student teachers for classroom experiences moving forward into student teaching. “For me, I just love working with kids, like, that’s why I have a heart to be a teacher.”
Both Srnick and Resek commented that they also have a great sense of community with the other student teachers at the Marek-Smith Center. Resek commented that one of her favorite parts of her education classes is the connections and support between classmates.
“I feel like all of us in this, like, major have such a heart for it and a heart for kids to, like, help kids succeed and help them as best as we can, even though we’re just learning. I feel like we’re able to do so much,” Srnick said.
The special education program at the Marek-Smith Center both prepares teachers and benefits students and parents in the program.
Emily Smith, the director of the Marek-Smith Center for Teacher Preparation at UMHB, said, “My vision is for the Marek-Smith Center to be recognized as the premier center for special education teaching in Texas, known not only for academic excellence but also for the compassion and faith that guide our work.”
