Teacher Features

Showcasing Events of the Union College Education Program

The students in EDUC 458-Methods in Religion, Health, Science and Social Studies are teaching their first rotation in elementary schools.

Children’s literature students, under the tutelage of Kathy Bollinger, just completed written and illustrated books. Each student created a children’s book that was published and bound. The books, beautiful and imaginative, are part of the capstone experience of the class.

Other interesting activities from this class have included “Book Talks” in which the students dress as the book character from a favorite literature book. Several of the students presented their character book talks to ENRC, Eastern Nebraska Reading Council, as it met on Tuesday, November 6, in the evening at Union College.

Students in the class participated in the Plum Creek Literacy Festival in October at Seward, NE. The students helped hundreds of children in group sessions as accomplished authors and illustrators discussed writing and illustrating techniques. The UC students assisted children as they formed creations of their own.

The students in EDUC 357, besides reading and documenting a plethora of literature themselves, have told and read stories to children in elementary schools, and have also researched authors and designed illustrator posters.

For the fourth year, Union College education students with their sponsors Dr. Joe Allison and Mrs. Kathy Bollinger spent their midterm break at the La Vida Navajo Mission School located near Farmington, New Mexico. The Educational Diversity and Human Relations class made the two day trip to the mission school as part of their course requirements. Students spend four days teaching, eating and playing with the K-8 grade students who attend the mission school and doing projects that the mission staff never seems to have time to get to. Students are divided into two teams with one team working with the mission school teachers and their Navajo students and the other team assisting the administration, maintenance, and kitchen staff with projects on the mission’s grounds. The following day the teams switch places. Students had an additional experience over previous years due to parent-teacher conferences being held at the mission school. The second team of students worked with K-8 grade Native American students at the Lake Valley Indian School which is operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and located only five miles from La Vida.

The bus ride – a huge thanks to Jerome Lang – and the hours spent together really helped the class to bond. Many students expressed the fact that they left for the trip not knowing their classmates very well and returned bonded like a family. Also, for several students it confirmed that they had chosen the right profession. The students learned a lot about the Native American culture and challenges, the sacrifice and work of the mission staff and about themselves. One student exclaimed the sentiment of many of their classmates when they shared that they would do it again “in a heart beat.”