Articles - Spring 2010 - return to index
Faculty Spotlight: Jean Bishop
Thrilled to be teaching
By Chris Cunningham
Jean Bishop followed a very determined path to her work as an early childhood education instructor at Lane Community College.
Soon after graduating, she discovered the readings of Maria Montessori.
She agreed with the early 19th-Century educator’s philosophy that classroom teachers should respect and encourage each child’s expressions of creativity. She wanted to become a teacher and implement that philosophy herself.
So she earned an American Montessori International Teaching Certificate, and then completed a master’s degree in early childhood education from the University of Oregon.
Bishop served as director of the Eugene Water
and Electric Board Child Development Center, and
then accepted a teaching post at Lane in 2003. At
Lane, she teaches family and child guidance, and
parent-school community relations.
One of Bishop’s students, April-Kay Williams, says
she appreciates the way her instructor translates
academic research into “real world” situations.
Bishop also oversees first-year students in their supervised teaching in Lane’s state-licensed, on-campus Child and Family Center.
She says Lane “is one of the few community colleges in Oregon where students can work in an onsite early childhood school.” Most colleges send their students to off campus sites.
The demand for trained early childhood education teachers remains high, Bishop says. Virtually all of her graduates find employment immediately.
