New teacher learns cursive, gets ready to learn more

 The neat cursive script scrawled across the whiteboard in Caroline Mooren's fifth-grade classroom took time to perfect. As a resident teacher at Manor Heights Elementary in Casper, Wyoming, last spring, Mooren was teased by her third-grade students about her scribbly cursive handwriting. It was the one thing they said she needed to work on. Armed with her improved cursive, Mooren is back at Manor Heights—this time for her first year as a "real" teacher.

Students pursuing teaching degrees today have a different set of requirements than their predecessors did, according to Renee Griffith, an education instructor for the University of Wyoming/Casper College. The No Child Left Behind Act requires all educators to be "highly qualified" in the areas they teach. A junior high biology teacher now has concurrent degrees in education and biology. Read more about heightened expectations for teacher quality in The Star Tribune online.