Elementary and early elementary education majors now have the opportunity to be involved with Schools Within the Context of Community, a new practicum highlighting immersive learning offered at Ball State University.
The program is offering students the chance to work in a day-to-day school setting in diverse and high-poverty areas. The practicum shows firsthand how teacher, student, parent and community relations can successfully come together in the classroom.
Patricia Clark, associate professor of elementary education, said the program will place students not only in the classroom, working one-on-one with students, but it will also place them in the community.
"The purpose is to help students understand that to be able to teach well, they need to understand the families and the community," Clark said.
The 16 program participants this semester are working at school from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. Students are also required to complete daily journals, create and execute lesson plans and do interviews with community members. Their final project will be a community service effort suited to the exact needs of the community at that time. Schools Within the Context of Community allows students to receive 18 credit hours for their involvement in the immersive program.
Eva Zygmunt-Fillwalk, assistant professor of elementary education, said the program hopes to encompass the material students have learned in traditional classes and place students in a diverse community where they can practice all these skills at once.
"We didn't want it to be six different courses," Zygmunt-Fillwalk said. "We wanted it to be one experience that was integrated so that all the other courses and content can flow seamlessly throughout ..."
the experience. As we move forward, we will continue to make the content integrated. It is one experience, not a collection of courses, that happen in the community."
Students will be studying at schools in the Whitely, Morningside and Claypool neighborhoods, which are located on the northeast side of Muncie. Next week, students will begin work at Longfellow Elementary School, Huffer Memorial Children's Center and Head Start. The Buley Center will be the program's headquarters.
Junior Rachael Baker, an early childhood education major, said she is excited to see how Schools Within the Context of Community and the rest of the semester will turn out.
"Being involved in this new program was nerve-racking at first," Baker said. "The teachers have done this for the first time as well. This is a learning experience for all of us."
Junior early childhood and elementary education major Emily Mauer said the practicum's community aspect is what drew her to the program.
"Living on campus, I didn't get into the community as much as I wanted to," Mauer said. "You get the community piece with this program, whereas classes don't allow you to know where the children might be coming from."
Clark said many students have wanted the opportunity to get involved in the Muncie community.
"Some students have admitted they have reached far in this community before, other than going to the mall or restaurants on McGalliard," Clark said.
The professors involved in the program have high hopes that it will continue to run every fall semester and so far the students hope so as well.
"School would not be as exciting," Mauer said. "It creates a family, because we are all with the same people every day. We have a much deeper bond."
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