Elaina Eakle
ehe001@marietta.edu
Eighteen Marietta College student teachers spent the first week of the semester in South-Western City School District in Grove City, Ohio, to gain experience in diverse classrooms.
The students were placed at nine different schools within the district where they observed and assisted teachers, teaching lessons by the end of the week.
“The reason we take that trip every year is that Parkersburg/Marietta is the second least diverse area in the United States,” Education Professor Dr. William Bauer said. “Our accrediting body charges us with giving our students diversity experience.”
This was the first time that Marietta College students went to South-Western schools for diversity experience, and though the schools were only two hours away, the city experience was a significant change for several students.
“Some of our students who have never been to a diverse city, some of the challenges would be for them to come out of their comfort zone,” Bauer said.
Hayley Montgomery was assigned to Franklin Woods Intermediate School in a sixth grade math and science classroom, and found that a diverse classroom was not as self-segregated as she had expected.
“This was such a great experience because I think that we all can sometimes think that diverse classrooms still cause students to be divided in some way,” she said. “I did not see this at all at Franklin Woods. It was a great way to work with students more diverse than in the schools where I have been teaching for the past three and a half years, but it honestly did not change or inhibit my teaching at all.”
Jen DeSantis agreed that though diversity may have an impact on education, it does not change the way students learn.
“Two of the major things that I brought back from this trip were that it doesn’t matter where you come from and who you are,” she said. “If you are given the chance to learn and have teachers that support you, you will achieve success and have a successful education. I also learned that when you have support, respect, and communicate with your staff, students will model those practices as well and respect each other’s [differences].
Jenna Skoglund believes that the experience she gained from the trip will benefit her as a teacher in the future.
“I grew up in northern Columbus in a suburb called Westerville, and I hope to return there to teach after graduation,” she said. “Westerville and Grove City have pretty similar diversity levels, and I honestly felt so at home being back in a classroom with that much diversity. I think it really solidified for me that I want to work in a more diverse district after graduation.”
Bauer felt the week was very successful, and predicted that Marietta College student teachers would return to South-Western School District next year.
“It was great to see the professional growth and transformation that happened during this week, and I feel the skills that they learned are very applicable to what we have taught and they are able to see these skills in action all day long,” he said.
The week was especially successful for Nick Brady, Shelby Maloney, Hayley Montgomery, Jen DeSantis and Alexis O’Hair, who were all offered teaching positions by the director of personnel of South-Western School District.
