Learning Happens Everywhere Education Foundations class takes learning from the classroom to the corral Every student was unique, and no two teachers taught the same, a fact the education majors learned on a daily basis. In EDFD 311 , Principles of Learning and Teaching, students experimented with different teaching styles to find methods they could implement once they began their careers as teachers. Assistant Professor of Education Amy Adair decided to challenge her students by letting them teach horses. A large part of the class focused on learning how to interact with students. According to Adair, the point of the horse exercise was to simulate a situation of meeting new students and to provide a hands-on experience, teaching students how to react appropriately.Adair said the challenges teachers faced with students were similar to the challenges faced when dealing with a horse. "Horses are great to use because they demand so much respect because you could get hurt," Adair said. Junior Emily Cook, an early and middle education major, said that the activity was difficult because the horses did not know what was expected from them and kept walking away from the obstacles. Some of the horses even started to run from the obstacles and the students. What the students noticed was the horses were not running from them but from flies. Cook said this gave an example of teachers blaming themselves for students who were withdrawn or difficult. In reality, the problem could be an external factor the student was suffering from that impeded the child's learning. "What stuck out to me were the external factors," Cook said. "We don't have control over the students, and we don't have control over what goes on in their lives, but we have the opportunity to pay attention and to help them overcome those obstacles." Junior Briana Midgley said her group sang and danced to coax the horse to walk in a circle around the arena, another of the challenges. "Our horse enjoyed it," Midgley said. "We sang 'Joseph' songs to him." Students appreciated a class that provided fresh air and a fresh perspective on the teaching process. Because of the success of the exercise, Adair planned to repeat the challenge. She saw that the students were stretched in their ideas of teaching methods and that they saw new ways of approaching their future classrooms. Chaney Mitchell In the Principles of Learning and Teaching class, junior Sarah Conley pets a horse Oct. 23. Assistant Professor of Education Amy Adair invited her EDFD 311 classes to her home to show how horses could be used in education. Ashe/ Parsons est.2001 College of Education 16 majors 131 faculty 161 courses Education I 95
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