WKU Senior Spends Semester Of Student Teaching In Germany

January 29, 2007

Bowling Green, Ky. - Megan O’Keefe, a Western Kentucky University senior from Lexington, is using her student teaching opportunity this semester as one step toward her goal of teaching overseas.

O’Keefe, an elementary education major in WKU’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, is spending four months in a third/fourth grade classroom at the Patrick Henry Elementary School in Heidelberg, Germany. The school serves the 16,000 military, dependents and civilians stationed at the U.S. military post in Heidelberg.

“I have been an exchange student before and loved the experience,” she said. “Ever since then I have wanted to travel again, but I want to live in the place and not just be a tourist because I feel by living there you get to know the culture so much better.”

Using WKU’s agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense, O’Keefe applied online and was accepted to teach in Germany.

“The experiences have been wonderful,” she said. “It’s different from being at home because the community is very tight knit. My teachers have been very helpful at finding things I need for my apartment. I’ve had a microwave, silverware, bike, helmet, and other things donated. Also, I have traveled to Berlin to see the city and to visit a friend from my 2003 exchange experience whom I had not seen in 3 1/2 years.”

More information about O’Keefe’s experience is available on a website she’s keeping about the trip: http://wizard.4teachers.org/builder/worksheet.php3?ID=93193
               
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For information, contact Teacher Education at (270) 745-2157.