Every Wednesday before school, when the building is devoid of students and typical morning activities, a colorful classroom among the white hallways of the Old Pit stands out. In Room 1183, six select Early Childhood Education (ECE) students work as paid teachers for the Titan Tots program, Preschool Coordinator Michelle Goodrich said.

Titan Tots is a preschool program that services District 225 and  the Glenview community while allowing students to experience teaching young children, Goodrich said. There are 11 preschoolers in the program currently who attend Monday through Friday, Goodrich explained.

“The paid teachers are important [because] the preschoolers are here at their normal time when the rest of the student body is at home sleeping [on Wednesdays],” Goodrich said. “They come in and help me lead the activities that normally the [ECE 1] class would be doing.”

The preschoolers start their mornings with some smaller group activities, which the ECE 1 class assists with, Goodrich said. Following a short snack, Block 2 starts, and the ECE 2 students arrive to teach the preschoolers, Goodrich said. The kids finish their 8:15 a.m. to 12 p.m. day with a large motor activity, like going out to the playground, sophomore and paid teacher Stella Christophersen said.

“I love making sure everyone’s positive and happy and being able to have an impact on how kids learn and on [their] lives,” Christophersen said.

The student workers are paid by District 225, unlike the 10 Titan Tots lab aides, who are unpaid and help out during the school day, Goodrich explained. In the spring, an application to become a paid teacher for the following year is sent out to ECE students, and students with more  experience with the kids are prioritized, Goodrich said.

Lab aides go through a similar application process and come in during their Student Resource Time (SRT) blocks to help Goodrich with the preschoolers, Goodrich said. Since the ECE classes meet every other day, there are times when Goodrich would have to manage the kids by herself if not for the aides, junior and lab aide Izzy Sallee, said. Sallee enjoys taking some of the pressure off of Goodrich by taking over the more tedious tasks Goodrich does not have time to do each day, Goodrich added.

“You work with the kids, take them to the bathroom, and help out [during] station time,” Sallee said. “You’re like a chaperone. It’s so fun.”

The ECE 2 class works to prepare lessons in art, literacy, science or math, and storytelling, Goodrich said. Each lesson has to coordinate with the current two-week theme picked for the kids, and the students work on their lessons in class before taking on the role of teacher for the preschoolers, Goodrich said.

“They get lots of hands-on experience with our preschoolers and it gives them the opportunity to see what a preschool is like,” Goodrich said. “I love the aspect of the high school students coming in and working with the preschoolers.”