Catawba College Teacher Education students recently visited Overton Elementary School to engage first and second grade students in activities connected to multicultural literature.
The Catawba students visited the school as part of their field experiences for their Literature for Children and Youth course. The visit served two goals – to provide an enriching experience through multicultural literature for the Overton students and to provide an opportunity for Catawba students to begin to develop and hone their strategies for teaching.
The visit immersed the first and second graders in a variety of multicultural texts and activities designed to encourage critical thinking and personal connections to the texts. Through texts, such as, “Show Way”by Jacqueline Woodson, “Anansi and the Magic Stick” by Eric Kimmel, and “The Rough Face Girl”by Rafe Martin, the Catawba students were able to foster discussions with the first and second graders about historical perspective, cultural traditions, folklore, and celebrating differences.
Dr. Kim Creamer, program coordinator for Catawba’s Elementary Education offerings, supervised the visit, assigned the students to work in partner teams, and divided them amongst the first and second grade classes at Overton. While one student provided an engaging literature activity for the first or second graders in their assigned classroom, their partner observed and provided constructive feedback about the lesson. Each student then submitted a lesson reflection to Dr. Creamer in order to evaluate their own teaching experience and prepare a path to continual improvement as a teacher.
Catawba students making the visit to Overton included Zach Alford, Karla Fragoso, Sierra Barger, Samantha Darby, Karla Fragoso, Gracie Gibson, Brittany Hager, Brittany Hunter, Bailey Koontz, Holly Messick, Jodi Nesbitt, Makenna Pate, Britney Read, Hollie Ritter, Shannon Statler, Leah Terraglio, and McKenzie Upright.
