GCSU has a multitude of professors and programs that help students achieve the careers they want, and one of those programs is the John H. Lounsbury College of Education which trains the future teachers of America. 

One of those professors is Stephen Merritt and he has been at GCSU since 2022. 

“I told them when I was interviewing that I am looking for my last job,” Merritt said, a Lecturer of Secondary Education. “I am pretty sure this is it.”

Inspired by his very own high school teachers, Merritt decided to attend Furman University where he gained his Bachelor of Arts in history in 1993. 

“History was always my favorite subject in high school,” Merrit said.

He also earned his teaching certificate for social studies for grades seven through 12, which he can still use today.  

Merritt continued pursuing history for his master’s degree which he earned from the University of South Carolina in 1995. In 2005, he gained his doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the same university. 

Merritt has spent his time teaching, coaching and mentoring at schools focused on secondary education. He is now teaching graduate students and his classes are virtual. He can have up to 20 students at a time in his classes. Merritt’s students are on the track to teach grades six through 12. 

“I am currently teaching field experience classes,” Merritt said. “Which is where the students get to go into a classroom and learn the ins and outs of teaching.”

Along with field experience, students have to complete a student teaching internship. These multiple components have to involve five strands of study: technology in the classroom, classroom inquiry, specific content area applications, teaching literacy skills and diversity issues in the classroom including exceptionalities.

Some of his students are already teachers and are also playing other roles at their schools. Merritt tries to work with his students because he has been in their shoes before. 

“While teaching, I was also running different clubs, also sometimes having office duties,” Merritt said. “So my students say, ‘I don’t have time. I’m doing this. I’m doing that.’ I can give them a little flexibility, that I really want to truly understand where they’re coming from and why it’s good that we have teachers here that have actually been there.” 

Merritt also works on helping students prepare for future tests and quizzes to ensure they are giving their students a fair chance on the test. He also teaches a class for the education majors that works on further explaining fair tests and how to ensure the test is fair to the students. 

With history being Merritt’s main area of expertise, he teaches the education majors who want to teach sixth through 12th-grade history. Since he has taught these grades before he is able to work with his students for the best outcome for their students. 

Merritt works to ensure his students have what they need to be successful in their current or future classrooms by checking that they know their content and understand what they are teaching to their students.

 “One of the most important parts of being a teacher is knowing your content and the other knowing your students,” Merritt said.