WISE members help D.C. kids
Jacob West

Staff Writer

Eight members of the World Issues for Study by Educators spent six days in the Washington D.C., area to teach at culturally diverse urban  schools of excellence. 

The group left Oct. 15 and returned Oct. 20. While there, the WISE members were able to experience how being the minority feels, because there were only 30 percent of the students who were Caucasian, 60 percent who were African-American, and 37 percent who were mixed Hispanic and Latin American.

 It is an opportunity to consider being a minority in a different way,  said Dr. Vikki Spencer, associate professor and a coordinator of the trip.

WISE students taught at four schools, including Brent Elementary, Binning Elementary, Stuart-Hobson, and the  School-Without-Walls.  WISE has a partnership with George Washington University, enabling members to work with these schools. Most of the schools are associated with either the Smithsonian museums or have an embassy program where students in the school are children of parents who work for the U.S. embassy.

The eight Missouri Southern students who participated were Deanna Dawson, Audrey McAuliff, Janet Parker, Nicki Roberts, Melissa Snyder, Cristy Bennett, Erika Cosey and Tonya Grant.

The  School-Without-Walls  is not familiar in this area, which is where the classes are not separated, but all of the students are together in one room.

 These schools are more of an intellectual definition, rather than a literal definition,  Spencer said.

Seminar sessions beforehand provided the opportunity for WISE students to become aware of the educational environment of diverse cultural groups.

 It was really wonderful,  said Dawson, senior early childhood elementary major.  They [the children] wore uniforms and were not looking at each other to see who had on the nicer clothes. 

Dawson taught her lesson on the alphabet with each letter representing something from Missouri. Other topics included tornadoes, George Washington Carver, Langston Hughes and Mark Twain.

Dawson said there were more similarities than differences. There was a Positive Action assembly and  the kids were all well mannered, 

Dawson said the children had decorated their school, which showed how well they appreciated it. There were 21 students plus a teacher and teacher aid in Dawson s class. She is planning on student teaching in the spring.

A tour of the sites of Washington, D.C., including a night tour of the monuments, took priority when the WISE students were not in the classroom.

 Getting to see them [the monuments] was wonderful,  Dawson said.

In addition to the D.C. experience, WISE students will write a reflection paper on what they thought, and those not already student teaching will give a presentation to other WISE members and other interested students.