Spanish professor Mary Jane Kelley had been trying for years to get funding to take a group of local high school teachers to Spain. Then, last year, an OU foundation asked her to do the trip as one of its summer institutes.
The Ping Institute for the Teaching of Humanities paid for Kelley to take 15 local teachers on a 10-day trip to Madrid and Bilbao, where they visited museums and discussed the art. The $23,000 grant covered everything except airfare and the
midday meal.
English professor Linda Rice, who volunteers with various programs, said she thinks it's important for professors to stay connected to lower-school teachers and work with high school students.
I actually would like to see a lot more of that happen
she said. If we could get individual professors going out to the schools regularly ... there are so many things that are easy to forget when you get more insulated and academic. We want to be real and relevant in the way we're training our teachers.
Kelley teaches an undergraduate course on Spanish art and said she got the idea for the trip through her involvement in the Ohio Foreign Language Association, through which OU's Department of Modern Languages keeps in touch with high
school teachers.
Kelley said only about half the participants were Spanish teachers. The others teach English, art and other languages. She would provide the teachers a packet of information about the next day's activities the night before, along with things to notice about the art. At dinner every night, the group would discuss what they saw.
These people were so enthusiastic and just really fun to travel with and talk with Kelley said. We bonded.
Jackie Van Tilburgh, a Spanish teacher at Piqua High School north of Dayton, said she uses a lot of the information she learned in Spain in her classroom.
I had always been interested in art but I didn't really know how to integrate it into my classes she said. I incorporate art a lot more than I used to ... It was nice to see other perspectives and how other departments incorporate art.
Kathie Anderson, who teaches English and humanities in Beavercreek, a suburb of Dayton, said she wanted to increase her confidence in teaching about art.
I'm feeling better
she said. It's been extremely helpful ... It was so enlightening to me because this was such a challenge ' to say is this art or is this not.
Rice, who taught high school English for 10 years before getting her PhD, said such interactions remind OU faculty of the challenges local teachers face.
When you're (on campus)
you're one of 100 teachers who teach poetry
she said. But when you're there (in the schools)
and you're a professor at OU
you're a celebrity!
English professor Sherrie Gradin, director of the Appalachian Writing Project, said her program, which works with local teachers on how to get students to write more critically, tries to connect educators across grade levels.
We're working on the model of teachers teaching teachers
said Gradin, who runs the workshops along with co-director Don Dudding. I think this is the kind of thing that would help us immensely. They are getting the experience of what we do here.
Gradin said the program is funded in part through a grant from the National Writing Project, from support from Ohio Writing Institute Network for Success and from OU. Teachers who participate get a tuition waiver from the university for the equivalent of two graduate courses.
Dudding, who teaches at Southern Local High School in Meigs County, echoed Gradin's comments that the program eliminates the feeling of isolation in education because it brings together teachers who work with different ages and subject areas.
I really like two things
he said. One is the enthusiasm and the passion that comes up within the summer workshops that people have for teaching ... [The other is] getting to know so many different people and getting to feel part of a larger educational community.
