ACADEMICS - 176 SENIOR SAM PETERS leads"I'm in the Lord's Army"for agroup of education majo~ Nov. , at aseminar at Downtown Churchof Christ. Theseminar wasdesigned to inform students ofthe nation's poverty situation. ·COURTESY OF M.WOOD Members of the College of Education gathered Nov. 1 for a seminar led by Harding alumna Kim Ellis, who presented students with information about poverty based on the nationally-acclaimed book"A Framework for Understanding Poverty" by Dr. Ruby K. Payne. "When1first heard about the seminar, I wasn't very excited,"seniorJen Holt said. "I thought it would be long and boring, but once I got there it was so interesting that time went by really fas!." Senior Trevor Goertzen said the seminar helped him realize how widespread poverty was. " j didn't think the seminar would be that beneficial to me," Goertzen said. "Poverty was not something I thought1would deal with in my classroom; but after the seminar, I realize that poverty is everywhere." The College of Education and the Students for the AdvancementofLeaming and Teaching decided to make the seminar mandatory for all education majors because the information was applicable for all classrooms. "Many school districts, including the North Little Rock district, have started adopting the Ruby Payne techniques/' said Cheri Smith, a co-sponsor of SALT and associate professor of education. "Our students will really have an advantage in interviews by having some of this training." In the seminar, Ellis presented information on the hidden rules of poverty and how different backgrounds could affect how a student learns. "Most teacherscome from a middleclass background, so a teacher may think a child is acting out, when in reality, because of his background, he is just acting how he thinks he should," Smith said. Junior Julie McLain said learning about different backgrounds was an educational experience. "I didn't realize there were so many different hidden rules in society," McLain said. "Things that we do that are natural to us may not be natural to others, and all these differences can become barriers in the classroom. " One of the seminar's major goals was to highlight diversity. "SALT's theme this year is diversity," Smith said. "We are trying to give students a broader cultural experience than they get in Searcy." Holt, who did her pre-student teaching in a low-income school, said she could use the information she learned to deal with students more effectively. " j know that j will be in contact with poverty regardless of where j end up teaching," she said. "I will take what lleamed at the seminar to my classrooms " - LAURA KAISER
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc5NA==