Imagine you are a college student, and also a teacher at a high school … and your best friend does exactly the same thing as you just across the hall! That’s crazy and rare, but Mr. Evan Vandegriffe and Mr. Mickey Ferch somehow bonded as student teachers at HHS and friends at Webster University.
Over a year ago at Webster University learning to teach in the English department, Vandegriffe and Ferch bonded in a Diversity of US Literature class.
“We chatted one-on-one for the first time when we were sent on a mission to ask the Webster librarian to showcase our group class project in the library,” Ferch said.
Typically student teachers would be placed in different schools, but after Ferch got an email that he was staying at Hancock, following Vandegriffe’s email that he’ll be working at Hancock, it was a rare and lovely surprise.
“I always hope that it will work out that way,” Vandegriffe exclaimed. “We have come so far together and it would be so much fun to keep that going.”
According to The Eastern Echo, “friends can affect a student’s academic performance by working together on assignments, and projects. Having a pair of brains to think about something will probably make it easier to figure out. Not to mention, sometimes having two different points of view can result in great projects.”
To add to the research, Ferch and Vandegriffe’s professors acknowledge the importance of partner projects.
“I love that my buddy is right down the hall,” Ferch said happily. “We’re told all the time how important it is to use your peers as resources, so it’s awesome to have been able to do that as just students and now as student teachers.”
Both having English Ed in common, it was relieving to know that there is a person that you share interests with.
“I love ELA as a subject because it’s such a wide umbrella of content,” Ferch stated, “We can also delve into music and films, which I love because I used to be a Film Production major.” Vandegriffe added that “There are so many different ways of approaching English content,” so you can approach it in different ways.
As the days go by, Vandegriffe and Ferch are leaving their mark at HHS. The fun times and lessons that they taught will be remembered.
“Working with Mr. Murphy and all the other teachers over these past few months have been so much fun and filled with good experience it’s going to be hard leaving at the end of the year!” Vandegriffe said.
“It’ll be hard to leave you all, especially since I’ve been here since the beginning of the school year,” Ferch added, “I hope to keep in touch with my students and fellow teachers as the years go by. I can’t wait to see how you all learn and grow after I’m done being your teacher!”
