Education News

More than 300 future teachers will have the opportunity to talk with 240 recruiters from 140 school districts at the Education Expo Teachers Job Fair set for Wednesday at Ohio Northern University's Sports Center.

ONU is the host site for this annual event, which brings together teacher-seeking school districts and teacher candidates from co-sponsoring institutions Ashland University, Bluffton University, Defiance College, Heidelberg College, Mount Vernon, Nazarene University and the University of Findlay, as well as Ohio Northern.

This year, recruiters from across the nation will meet with teacher candidates in one-to-one interview sessions. Potential employers include the Bering Strait School District in Unalakleet, Alaska, as well as districts in Ohio, Hawaii, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida.

Richard D. Lawrence, educator and Ada community leader, was named Distinguished Citizen of the Year at the 42nd annual Town and Gown Banquet Monday night on the Ohio Northern University campus.

He joins a distinguished list of community leaders who have been honored for their work with the Ada community and Ohio Northern.

After serving in the U.S. Navy, Lawrence earned a bachelor of science in education degree from Ohio Northern and went on to teach technology at Ada Junior and Senior High and at Apollo Career Center, where he also served as adult education supervisor. He has served the Village of Ada as a councilman and continues as a trustee of the Ada Community Improvement Corporation. He has been an active member of the Village Tree Commission, the Ohio Farm Bureau and the Ada and Lima Rotary clubs.

He works with the Ada Food Pantry, served on the Bluffton Community Hospital Board, served as an EMT with the Ada-Liberty Rescue Squad and currently serves as chairman of the Hardin County Red Cross board. He has also served on the Hardin County Emergency Management Agency and the Harding County Regional Planning Commission. He is a member of the Allen, Auglaize and Hardin Counties National Alliance for the Mentally Ill "HOPE" Chapter, volunteers with the Ohio Prison Ministry and is active in his church.

The Town and Gown Association was established in 1957 by a group of townspeople and ONU personnel to develop and maintain a strong positive relationship between Ada and Ohio Northern.

The Town and Gown Association was reactivated in 1988 after 10 years of inactivity. The association's goal continues to be promoting harmony and good will between townspeople and the University.

The association hosts its annual banquet to honor newcomers to the community and to name the Distinguished Citizen of the Year. Sponsoring organizations include the Ada Education Association, Ada Ministerial Association, Ada Senior Citizens, Chamber of Commerce, Jr. Civic League, Kiwanis, Lions Club, Ohio Northern University, ONU Women, Quatre Club, Rotary Club, Twice Ten Club and Village of Ada.

There are approximately 1200 students in the high school and primary school at Lephisi Village. In previous visits to the schools, the principals indicated a need for food for the children, training in technology, training in child development, teacher professional development, books, and a microscope. With the help of Ohio Northern University, Rotary International, and our local communities, we are making good on a promise to fulfill those needs, one child, one teacher at a time.

Partnership SA is in alignment with the mission of Ohio Northern University to develop in our students the desire to contribute to the good of humankind that is consistent with Judeo-Christian ideals. Additionally, the mission of the College of A & S is to develop a community of students and faculty committed to moral and spiritual development as well as academic development. The partnership would be a means to develop such a community.

Encountering lions, rhino and giraffes on the way to school are not common experiences for Ada, Ohio Rotary Club members Diana Garver, Nathan Oliver, Sandy Crosser, and Sandy's husband, Ron. But that is what it took to bring teacher training in literacy and technology to a remote village near Kruger National Park. Calling themselves Partnership South Africa, the team of four was touched by the needs of community schools in Lepesi, South Africa where there is no running water, high unemployment, and great desire to educate the 1200 children enrolled in the village schools.

Rotary VSG grants and donations from ONU and individuals made it possible for the Ohio team to bring hope to the small, rural, South African village schools. There are 38 teachers in the primary and secondary schools. When asked what was needed in the village schools, educators requested training for teachers in literacy, child development, and technology. Following that lead, teacher training in 2007 and again in 2008 focused on classroom demonstrations of strategies to teach beginning reading to the youngest children and content area reading skills to older students.

The Rotary team found that teachers had access to few instructional materials and very limited print resources to use in their classrooms. Teachers struggled with limited numbers of textbooks, requiring four or five students to look on together, limiting opportunities to learn. In order to overcome the lack of books, the Rotary team looked to other ways to provide access to the world of knowledge. That breakthrough came when tech expert, Nathan Oliver, accessed a cell tower and cell technology to connect the internet. Lepesi, an isolated community of 3500 has been brought into the age of technology. The Lepesi students are the first in Mpumalanga Province to have internet access. That connection is critical in a system where there are no libraries and few textbooks.

Of course teacher training in the use of technology has been important to sustaining the initial inroads. In August, 2007 teachers began training in use of e-mail , Word, and Excel. E-mail allowed continued contact between Africa and Ohio during the interval between training sessions. A second training session occurred in August, 2008. At that time the team provided multimedia projectors and computers for both the primary and secondary schools. Teachers learned how to create lessons, insert illustrations, and project text onto classroom walls, permitting all students access to reading the text. Other classroom materials such as hand-held calculators, computers, chart holders, picture books, pencils, pens, and white boards had been donated by community groups and individuals in the US and were carried with the training team to very grateful teachers.

 

By Morgan Baughman
Junior in professional writing from Mansfield, Ohio

During October a program called Saturday Morning Arts (SMArts) helped Northern education majors make a direct connection with local elementary students. The program was created by education professor Linda Lehman.

Every Saturday morning in October, 19 Northern teacher candidates from Lehman's EDUC 390 Integrating the Visual Arts and Academics class met with 50 kindergarten through sixth grade students from Bath and Ada in the Wilson Art building. There the elementary students participated in a number of art-based activities, including activities focused on art history, aesthetics, art production, art criticism, and connecting the arts to other disciplines such as English, math, social studies, and science.

The theme of the program was that art tells a story. One activity included having the students write a story about a piece of art that they made. Lehman explained, "We wanted the students to understand that they're always telling a story with their art, that this is a story that can be written down."

Lehman, a former public school classroom and art teacher, envisioned the program as a great opportunity for her college students to gain experience teaching. Lehman said, "What I learned while teaching art was so valuable, and I think it's important, at a university level, to teach teachers those skills and how exciting art can be when taught well."

Junior early childhood education major Kelli Powell, who participated in SMArts as a teacher candidate, commented, "The first time I heard about the SMArts program, I was really excited. I thought it was a great opportunity to implement what we were learning within our art class while also practicing being in front of students. The more experience we have with instructing students, the better teachers we become. I hope to someday be able to use some of the media we explored during SMArts in my own classroom."

The ratio of students to teacher candidates was about 4:1. The teacher candidates were responsible for planning and implementing activities for the students. In addition, the teacher candidates kept a record of reflections on the days' activities.

But SMArts was not just about clinical experience for teacher candidates. SMArts also acted as a good way to expose public school students to media that they normally do not have a chance experience. Lehman's prospectus for the program states, "Elementary schools are often reluctant to purchase art texts...when so much pressure exists to buy materials to improve math, reading and science scores instead." Powell affirmed, "Art is an essential part of any curriculum. It encourages student creativity, problem solving, and self-discovery. It also provides a means of communication for students who may struggle with putting their thoughts into words. SMArts allowed the students to thrive because it gave them time. They had plenty of time to experiment and produce beautiful, unique works of art. Our students also learned social skills such as acceptance and tolerance. They learned that it is all right for someone to feel differently about a work of art or to create their piece of art differently."

SMArts goal is to integrate art with traditional academic subjects. For example, SMArts students learned how to make paper. In the process of learning how to make paper, students learned about organic versus inorganic materials and that paper can only be made from organic materials. In fact, every SMArts project tried to make a connection with another discipline. The goal in emphasizing these connections was that students would begin independently notice how art relates to other subjects. Lehman also pointed out that, "Art helps children learn to think critically, to utilize higher level thinking skills. Our economy is constantly changing, and we need to be able to put learners into that economy, who can analyze information that hasn't even been created yet. Art helps children develop the creative problem solving skills that employers are looking for."

In addition, Lehman saw another practical need for the program. Ohio recently issued a new Academic Content Standards for the Visual Arts, which splits the visual arts into five categories, art history, aesthetics, art production, art criticism, and art as a cross discipline, the same five categories addressed by SMArts. Lehman pointed out that conventionally, most public schools direct nearly all their attention towards art production. Lehman stressed that art in elementary schools should be "about more than holiday art or cute art for the hallway."

SMArts students also studied photography and sculpture. "Our concentration was on process versus product," said Lehman. "When you focus on thinking about how to put something together and actually creating it (the process) the product takes care of itself."

Parents showed overwhelming support for the SMArts program. Parents submitted SMArts applications for over 210 children. Unfortunately, the program was funded to support 50 children, so the students were chosen by lottery method, with special consideration given to lower income families.

This year's program was funded by the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation. Transportation from Bath Elementary School to Northern's campus was provided by Proctor and Gamble. Due to funding, participants were provided these opportunities at no cost. Though SMArts was only funded for the 2006 year, Lehman hopes that the overwhelming interest shown by parents and students will prompt renewed funding that would make the SMArts program possible for years to come.