救援教师
一群贝洛伊特校友教师, 包括Alana Coats, 2005年的Rankin, heard that their former professor of education Kathy Greene needed their help educating young teachers. They responded by showing up in droves on screens across the country.
Alana 外套兰金’05 never thought she would be teaching to tiny black squares as a high school English teacher, 但在过去的一年里, 这正是她必须做的.
“Many of my students have a lot of chaos in their homes, 这是一个高度贫困的学区, 所以他们没有摄像头,科茨·兰金说, 谁在华盛顿州教书. “但是，他们可以看到我，”她说.
她向她求婚了 贝洛伊特教育 为了迎接这一挑战.
“在贝洛伊特, I remember reading about teaching as a performing art—as a practice to become engaging and as a performance,她说。. “这是今年最真实的情况. 这是精神上和情感上的, 甚至是体力消耗, 更多的 so than in person because I cannot see their reactions.”
Even amid the added challenges of this teaching environment, and while often working from her dining room table with her husband, 格雷格•兰金08年, 和蹒跚学步的孩子, 秋天, 附近的, 科茨·兰金抓住了帮助凯西·格林的机会, her former 十大菠菜台子 advisor and Education Professor Emerita.
Greene had retired from 贝洛伊特 in 2017 and moved to 科罗拉多州rado, then decided to teach an education course as a visiting professor at a 科罗拉多州rado college. Greene called 外套兰金 to ask if a cohort of her current students could observe a class virtually.
“With Covid, we couldn’t go into any local classrooms,” Greene explains. “Then I got to thinking: We don’t have to rely on local teachers. 他们甚至不需要在这个州.”
Greene says suddenly the possibility of an entire nation of 贝洛伊特-educated teachers opened up to her. 她想:“我为什么不利用这个巨大的资源呢?”
From her 科罗拉多州rado base, she contacted a group of her past 贝洛伊特 students. 许多人都站出来帮忙.
Coates Rankin and Nora Polaski’17 each made introductory videos for Greene’s class about their respective classrooms, 学校, 和社区. 他们和巴拉克·本·阿莫茨(Barack Ben-Amots)是14岁, 肯·戴维斯86, and Kelsey Horvath’17 hosted virtual visits to their classrooms and met with Greene’s class to answer questions afterward. 托马斯·哈特利的10, 汤姆Owenby“01, 斯科特Schleich 93, and Tim Vedra’92 each carved out time to meet virtually with Greene’s students to chat and answer questions.
外套兰金, who as a 贝洛伊特 student completed half of her student-teaching in Wisconsin public 学校 and the other half in New Zealand, says her classroom experience at 贝洛伊特 was essential to her own teacher education, 所以她想尽自己所能回馈社会.
Because her students were not shown on screen, the observation was particularly unique.
“在这种环境下, Kathy’s students can see my style and how my students interact — and mainly my students interact [with me] through the chat; they don’t often unmute,她说。.
Greene’s class also virtually observed life and lessons at Flying Pig Farm Educational Research Center in Manitou Springs, 科罗拉多州.
“Kathy’s students observed a seed-planting activity,” says Ben-Amots. “There was a limited level of interaction because it was observation and virtual, but we were thrilled to have them there and to show what’s possible when we take an emotional and honest approach to teaching children about growing food.”
在贝洛伊特, Ben-Amots was a student in Greene’s First-Year Initiatives class, 专注于建造一所梦想中的学校. Years later, he invited his former teacher to be on the Flying Pig Farm’s board of directors. But he is the first to admit he never planned on being a teacher.
“在去伯洛伊特学院的路上, I was saying so proudly to my mom that I would study anything in college except education. And then I was in Kathy’s FYI course and made it about two days before I changed my mind,” he says. “在贝洛伊特, the emphasis was on trying to develop a multilayered and nuanced perspective to understanding how and why institutions work.”
Greene expects this to be the last class she teaches as a visiting professor, so working with the teachers she taught as students at 贝洛伊特 brings her career full circle.
格林说:“这是我一生中最美好的时光。. “The teaching program at 贝洛伊特 is much less training and 更多的 of an education to wrap minds and hearts around what needs to happen in classrooms, 与人相处. The alumni teachers who participated are real examples of this. It has been great to see these generous educators emphasize themes of caring, 同理心, 在教学中融入社区. This should not be a surprise, given that these are values espoused by 十大菠菜台子.”
