Glenda Crawford, associate professor of education, and five junior middle school education majors have been working closely this spring semester with students at Hawfields Middle School in Mebane, N.C. on a service-learning project.
Crawford received a $1,000 Project Pericles grant for an upper level education course titled “Effective Middle School Teaching.” The class used the money to fund an oral history unit and a school beautification project.
Through a pen pal exchange with residents at the Twin Lakes Retirement Center in Burlington, N.C., Hawfields eighth graders were able to incorporate first-hand historical knowledge from another generation into their social studies class. Elon students helped the younger students improve their written and oral communication skills through letters and interviews. The class also used math to compare price differences of certain products then and now. On Monday, April 14, Hawfields and Elon students will end the oral history project with a field trip to Twin Lakes. The eighth graders will present bound booklets containing the exchanged letters and interviews to their pen pals.
Elon students also worked with sixth graders to design and plant a flower garden on the middle school’s campus. Though recent rainy weather has caused some delays, the group tentatively plans to hold a dedication ceremony on Earth Day, April 22. During this project, Elon students taught sixth graders about horticulture preparation and honed their mathematical skills through planning and measuring the garden.
“The [Elon] interns are also expected to evaluate their own learning through the project and reflect on service learning as an instructional avenue for young adolescent learning,” Crawford said.
The class used the grant money to purchase garden supplies, a plaque, a tape recorder, stationary supplies, textbooks for Elon students and to cover the cost of printing and binding the booklets.
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