Experiential Learning
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Harris County Children's Library at Lone Star College-CyFair
In partnership with the Harris County Children's Library at the CyFair campus, my students led a children's program focusing on STEM topics for Read Across America. Children from the community ranging from 3-8 years old were invited to come to the event. Young children would move to different stations to learn about various STEM topics Lone Star AAT (Teacher Education) students led. My students led a reading of the book about a STEM topic to the children and then conducted a lesson for the young students to extend their learning about that topic. My students prepared and worked on their lesson plans the entire spring semester. They learned how to read and analyze data from the Texas Education Agency website. They learned how to read the TEKS and determine the learning outcomes that they wanted their lessons to focus. They learned how to implement story books they choose and made the lesson meaningful to the students they were reaching. They also had to prepare modifications of lessons for younger age groups that they may have in their small groups. Teaching to a 3-year-old is definitely different from an 8-year-old. All in all, the event was an extreme success. My students learned how to be culturally sensitive. My students realized that they need to work with sudden changes in plans. In the middle of the event, I made them change the time in stations to about half and we were able to run through 2 more stations than planned. I was extremely proud of them. From one student: “I think our nervousness went away little by little as the hour passed, each time we got a new group we became more and more confident in what we were doing and what we were saying. I even forgot that there was parents in the room watching us. I was very happy with how everything turned out.” |
Service Learning
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Keystone Academy
My students had the wonderful privilege of serving and teaching Burmese refugee students Summer of 2016. We partnered with Keystone Academy, a non-profit private school. The school's mission is to reach student populations that are from war-torn countries and give them a firm foundation in their education so that they thrive in their public high schools. The students ranged from 11-14 years old. Marie Yo, a former public school ESL teacher, taught and developed lessons on reading and poetry. Both Jerome Vielman, the Director of the Academy, and Ms. Yo taught the class of Burmese immigrants. My students observed them for 2 days and then they taught a small group of students literary elements of literature. Some were very unsure about the content. Fortunately, I was a former English Professor, so I could coach them individually in those areas. However, for the most part, each of my students were able to teach the students the lesson. Some taught for their first time. I observed some Lone Star students unknowingly utilizing formative assessments with the students to help them understand the material, and LSC students also modified the lesson in order to help the students learn the material in a more efficient way. It was eye-opening. These students had never taught before and they were impressing themselves. It was a significant confidence booster. They can do this! What I confirmed that day is the belief that students learn how to teach in formal and informal settings if we provide opportunities for them. This informal teaching experience gave my students confidence that they are capable. Early clinical practices are key to helping students discover their capabilities--which provides a springboard to their future educator preparation program. Our Education department actively invites speakers to engage our students about the field of education. Experts share their professional experiences within the field and/or topic (i.e. autism spectrum disorders, expectations of teachers, childcare, at-risk populations, etc.) Some of our events are listed below.
University of Houston-Downtown: Seamless Pathway 2+2 University of Houston-Victoria (Katy Campus) Texas Tech University: Tech Teach Program--2+1 Program Stephan F. Austin University |