Teacher Education
Summer project combines work and academic interests
School of Education, Health, and Society
8/22/09
Middletown-area senior Katie Henry has merged two worlds in an undergraduate summer scholarship project that combines her early childhood education major with her job as activity coordinator at Mount Pleasant Retirement Village.
Throughout her college career, the 22-year-old has worked 30 to 55 hours a week at Mount Pleasant to help finance her education.
Now, she’s directing an intergenerational project where 80-year-olds and five-year-olds are partners in producing two-to three-minute DVDs that showcase original fiction with their own music, artwork and narration. Both age groups love the collaborative program, according to Henry.
“The seniors are impressed with how creative and intelligent the children are,” says Henry. “They tell me this has given them something to think about, that they have something meaningful to look forward to.”
The youngsters, who attend a daycare program at the retirement center and range in age from eight to 11 are equally enthusiastic. They’re being exposed to technology and collaborating with others at the same time they’re enhancing their language skills. Plus, they’re learning that seniors, just like kids, have different personalities.
Brenda Dales, a teacher education faculty member and project mentor, sees potential for the Mount Pleasant project model to be adopted by elementary schools to not only enhance literacy, but to build community partnerships. “I see genuine caring between the children and residents,” she says.
Henry is preparing a scholarly article on her intergenerational literacy-learning project. She and Dales will present information about the innovative program at the fall conference of the Ohio chapter of the Council of International Reading Association.
Henry, who began her college career at Miami Middletown, will be student teaching this fall in a third grade classroom at Monroe Elementary School. Due to graduate in spring 2010, she says she is looking forward to a lifelong career in education.
Miami’s nationally recognized undergraduate summer scholar program provides an opportunity for students from all campuses to work one-on-one with faculty members on research and scholarly activities.