College education students get taste of teaching
Berl Tiskus
RayAnn Cree Medicine teaches children science concepts at SKC.
Berl Tiskus
Leilani Butler, student at C.S. Porter Middle School, explores career options Friday with help from students majoring in education at Salish Kootenai College.
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
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PABLO — RayAnn Cree Medicine used tongs to grab a Mountain Dew can that had been heated on a hot plate and plunged it into a big kettle full of ice and cold water. The can collapsed with a crunch.
Cree Medicine and teammates Elyssa Hawk and Cory Drowatzky, all Salish Kootenai College secondary education science majors, demonstrated can crushing and dancing Ferrofluid to groups of middle-schoolers from Porter Middle School in Missoula. Other groups of SKC education students used basketballs, a movie of the space rover, stethoscopes, posters and candy to explain different careers the young students could consider if they choose to attend the college in Pablo.
The visit from Porter students on Friday is a tradition that began in 2009 after Doug Ruhman, SKC education professor, and a Porter teacher were in China together on a Fulbright Scholarship. Porter has a large percentage of American Indian students.
“It’s an annual event that showcases SKC, and it’s reaching out to the greater community,” Ruhman said.
The experience allows college sophomores to team up and teach to sixth, seventh and eighth-grade children, rotating the youngsters throughout 51 learning stations.
“This is a neat opportunity for SKC education students to teach kids for the first time,” Ruhman said.
Whereas last year’s presentation was historic and centered on American Indian games and tool making, this year’s event was on the order of a career fair, Ruhman said.
The college students want to promote the idea of higher education and “the career paths SKC could help the middle-schoolers walk down,” Ruhman said, showcasing academic programs associated with those careers such as health fields, human services, sciences, social work, psychology and education.
During a presentation on psychology, SKC student Aspen Many Hides had each student hold a picture of a flag close to his or her face and stare at it for 30 seconds. Then the kids looked at the wall and took turns reporting what they saw. Although the flag they looked at was blue and yellow, they reported the flag on the wall was red, white and blue.
At the health care section, the Porter students listened to their heartbeats with stethoscopes and learned there are one trillion bacteria living on their skins.
Although she liked the stethoscope, Porter student Leilani Butler enjoyed the bus tour, too. Leilani plans to attend college and wants to be a firefighter and play basketball.
Other occupations kids were interested in ranged from history teacher to beautician to graffiti artist.
All the sections weren’t on academics, however. Kids took a mini bus tour of the college campus to see where all the programs are located. Another section dealt with navigating the college experience — applying for financial aid and shining some light on the many ways SKC helps students survive such as the writing center, tutoring and the math lab.
Seventh grader Kristina Morinda liked this section.
“They showed us how to get in school … how to represent ourselves,” Kristina said.
She wants to be a cellist, and her favorite class is orchestra.
Even cellists have to eat lunch, and SKC’s administration treated the Porter kids to a meal in Three Wolves Cafeteria. Then the visitors were given 15 minutes to run, jump and play before returning to afternoon sections.
While the Porter kids ran off some energy, the college students debated their teaching strategies.
“Maybe we should shorten our presentations,” Jake Durglo said.
Teammate Many Hides agreed.
“We could start the game sooner,” she said.
Hawk said she had started handing out candy for the most questions asked.
Overall the mood of the SKC students was excitement as they waited for the Porter kids to return and said they’d enjoyed the morning.
“Most education students aren’t choosing education as any old job,” Ruhman said. “They are very passionate.”
