Posts Tagged ‘teaching’

Mistakes of a first-year Teacher

November 17th, 2009

I have a confession to make.  When I started my teaching career at Tripp High School in 1990, I had no idea what it meant to teach in a small rural school.  Having grown up in Hartford, SD, a small town just outside of Sioux Falls, I always thought of myself as a rural kid.  But in reality, my high school experience was closer to that of a suburban school than a rural school.  And more importantly, nothing in my college teacher preparation courses suggested that teaching in rural schools was any different than teaching in urban settings.

Case in point:  During my first year of teaching, I introduced a personal finance unit into my micro economics class.  Hoping to show my students how they could be “smart shoppers,” I demonstrated how they could save money by switching from buying individual cans of pop from the school’s pop machine to buying pop in bulk. And if they were really smart, I suggested, they would drive to Sioux Falls to buy at a discounter like Sam’s Club — because that’s where the real savings could be realized. 

If you’ve lived in a rural community, you recognize the stupidity of my example.  But for those who don’t, let me explain:

First, I did not factor in the cost of driving the 90 miles to Sioux Falls.  (Boy would my green friends today have a problem with this.)

Second, it did not consider the importance of patronizing a business in one’s community.  Our local grocery story displayed good community citizenship, while Sam’s Club didn’t know (or care) that Tripp, SD even existed. 

And finally, the model for saving money I shared didn’t factor in how the city council would need to ask residents to pay more in property taxes to make up for the declining sales tax revenues resulting from out-of-town purchasing.   

I’ve been thinking about examples like this a lot lately as I work on the South Dakota Partnership for Teacher Quality.  One of the roles the Rural Learning Center will play in the grant is to help first year teachers learn how to live and teach in rural communities.  In some ways, this will involve similar concepts offered by Kyle Ezell in Get Urban.  (see post for more info.)

Teaching and living in rural communities is different from teaching in urban communities. I learned that the hard way.  I wonder how many teacher education programs acknowledge these differences as they prepare teachers?  If they did, we might see young teachers become life-long rural educators.

Photo Credit:  FXR - Flickr

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Posted in Rural, education | Comments (2)

Welcome Nicole Lauck

June 9th, 2009

The Rural Learning Center has the good fortune of having two interns who will write for the ReImainge Rural blog this summer. To help readers get to know them better, I’ve conducted a short interview with each.  What follows is an interview with Nicole Lauck of Corsica, SD. 

 

Where did you grow up, where are you going to school now, and what are you studying?
I grew up in Corsica, South Dakota and now attend Augustana College in Sioux Falls studying English and Secondary Education.

What do you hope to write about this summer?
I will be writing about rural education, rural youth, and ways of connecting in rural settings, whether it is social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), websites, or other forms of interaction.

What’s one of your most favorite memories about growing up in a rural community?
If only my bicycle had an odometer. I don’t know how many miles I put on it riding back and forth to the swimming pool, friends’ houses, the drive-in, and anywhere else we could think of going. Summer time at the swimming pool is definitely a favorite memory of mine.

What’s one of your least favorite memories about growing up in a rural community?
I never felt that community members expected me to return after college (granted, I don’t know if I will return to my hometown). Not that I was rejected, but the community needs a self-esteem booster to realize that high-achieving young people with degrees can and will find homes in small towns.

What’s the “coolest” small town or place in a small town that you have been to?
I love small town main streets, street dances, and festivals. I love potluck dinners and just visiting with people over great food and celebration. Fourth of July celebrations are one of the coolest times of the year to be in a small town - greased pig rodeos, barbeques, bed races, etc. are great!

 

I’m excited about Nicole being onboard for several reasons:  First, she will help deliver a younger voice of experience.  For instance, I found it interesting that she suggested many community members in her hometown don’t expect talented, young people like her to want to live in a rural community. Her experience seems to correspond with the focus of soon to be released Hollowing out the Middle.

Second, Nicole wants to teach in a rural community and understands the value of place-based education – a subject dear to our hearts in Miner County.  I’ll let her elaborate on more of that in later posts;  but it’s very refreshing to hear that a future educator understands the value of connecting students to their community.

Welcome aboard Nicole!

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Posted in Community Development, Gen Y, Rural, Youth | Comments (4)