LH educators tout civic engagement

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Jeff Mitchell CELEBRATION OF LEARNING: Alma Middle School teacher Jennifer Pitts was among 27 Arkansas educators recognized Tuesday at the Central Arkansas Library System's Ron Robinson Theater and Butler Center for Arkansas Studies for the second year of the Arkansas Declaration of Learning. Lake Hamilton School District educators Jil'Lana Heard and Rachael Walston were two of four participants chosen to detail their work with the program during the 2016-17 school year.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Jeff Mitchell CELEBRATION OF LEARNING: Alma Middle School teacher Jennifer Pitts was among 27 Arkansas educators recognized Tuesday at the Central Arkansas Library System's Ron Robinson Theater and Butler Center for Arkansas Studies for the second year of the Arkansas Declaration of Learning. Lake Hamilton School District educators Jil'Lana Heard and Rachael Walston were two of four participants chosen to detail their work with the program during the 2016-17 school year.

LITTLE ROCK -- Two educators from the Lake Hamilton School District celebrated the success of engaging students in community action Tuesday during a presentation to the Arkansas Declaration of Learning Year Two Celebration.

Library media specialist Jil'Lana Heard and Rachael Walston, content literacy facilitator for grades 4-12, shared information about their project, "America: Land of the Free. Home of the Equal?" developed this school year for students at Lake Hamilton Junior High. They were two of four educators selected from the second-year class of 27 Arkansas teachers and librarians.

The 27 participants in the second year of the program, their mentors and the partner organizations were recognized Tuesday at the Central Arkansas Library System's Ron Robinson Theater in the River Market District of Downtown Little Rock. Heard and Walston led the second of three teacher presentations about their work in ADOL during the 2016-17 school year.

"I have always tried to be engaging for my students and to really make things come to life for them to make them interested in my subject, but I stayed within my four walls," Walston said. "I taught history in this room. That is all I taught. I did not worry about what happened outside of my classroom walls.

"This project really helped us to see that it is our job as teachers not just to impact what happens inside of our classroom walls, but what happens in the world beyond them. We are the ones who are making the citizens of tomorrow -- hopefully productive citizens -- who want to give back to the community through civic service."

They partnered with Seth Reeves to lead units in his eighth-grade United States history classes. Walston said they chose to incorporate available works of art that personally appealed to them.

ADOL makes works of art and historical artifacts available to teachers through a partnership between the Arkansas Department of Education, the Clinton Foundation, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, CALS's Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum and the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Reception Rooms in Washington, D.C.

Heard and Walston titled their project, "America: Land of the Free. Home of the Equal?" They discovered a common theme of inherent inequalities present in the pieces they selected.

"That led us to our compelling question, which was, 'Why should those who have resources care that others don't have the same resources?'" Walston said. "And how can we begin the process of ensuring equality within our own community? What can our students do to level the playing field?"

They crafted activities, lessons and units about historical and modern examples of ethnic, gender, racial and socioeconomic inequalities and injustices. Their work was woven into Reeves' curriculum.

"When a social movement occurred, we would step in and talk about the social injustices that were causing that movement or that were sparking change in U.S. history," Heard said.

Activities for the classes included field trips to the Butler Center and Clinton Presidential Library. The largest of their activities taught students how they could make an impact in society. Their study of socioeconomic inequality connected students to the educational divide affecting students entering school.

Students raised $2,500 to provide 350 early learning kits for incoming kindergartners at Lake Hamilton Primary School. They devoted hours to assembling the materials included in the kits.

"When they actually got to go to kindergarten registration and hand the bags to parents and to registering kindergartners, the kids felt like they made a difference," Walston said. "It was the first time a lot of these kids had really been part of a civic service project and they were very passionate about it. They could not believe that they could make a difference."

Gov. Asa Hutchinson recorded a video message for this year's participants. He touted the program as a successful private-public partnership.

"The units and civic engagement projects you developed will serve as an example to educators across the country," Hutchinson said. "You are doing an outstanding job of showing all of us why Arkansas educators are the best in the nation."

An Arkansas native is leading the national initiative. Anne Menotti is a graduate of Bergman High School and Hendrix College and is now the senior adviser for education and outreach for the Diplomatic Reception Rooms.

Menotti said great teachers take learning outside of their classrooms and inspire their students. She said she was surprised to see how many materials the participants added to their work throughout the year. A website is in development to showcase the program and its participants.

"Our hope in starting this program was that we could help teachers and school librarians do your work and bring your subjects to life by what we call object-based teaching, by using historical art and artifacts to bring something to life," Menotti said. "People get tired of reading stuff."

Outgoing state deputy commissioner Mark Gotcher served as keynote speaker on Tuesday, his final day with the ADE before he began as superintendent of the Russellville School District in his hometown. Gotcher said being able to visit the Reception Rooms was a life-changing experience. He said feedback from teachers indicated the program changed the way they approach teaching to a new generation of students.

"If the Declaration of Learning can change the way we approach students in this new generation, our students are the benefactors," Gotcher said. "They are the ones that are going to receive the meaning that this generation is so desperately looking for. It is more than how we write lesson plans. It is more than how we manage our classrooms. It is finding a way to connect our kids to the world and finding a way to connect our kids to their communities."

Marcee Craighill, director and curator for the Reception Rooms, said the 28,000-square-foot collection on the seventh and eighth floors of the Harry S. Truman Building in D.C. was developed with private donations and is used by federal officials and diplomats every day. She said ADOL is meant to help create global citizens and teach students about diplomacy.

"We are committed to this project tremendously," Craighill said. "We are so honored to be working in Arkansas with our extraordinary partners."

Cassandra Barnett, ADE program adviser for school libraries, coordinated with Menotti to begin the program in Arkansas. She said she wants Arkansas to serve as a model as the national initiative expands to include more states.

"Even though I have always been interested in history, the part that appealed to me was the story and about the people that surrounded me," Barnett said. "What I think is so important about this particular project is that is what we do for our students.

"We bring them the stories, and not just about the national stuff, but we bring it home to our own communities. We do that through the lessons that our participants teach and we do that through the civic engagement piece, where they push our students to be more engaged in their community and to contribute."

Zev Slurzberg, K-12 partnerships programs manager for Crystal Bridges, worked with participants throughout the year and introduced the presenting educators on Tuesday. Monticello Middle School art teacher Sherry Knight led the first presentation and Brian Johnson, librarian for Lakeside Junior High School in Springdale, led the final presentation.

Other speakers included David Stricklin, director of the Butler Center, and Nathan Thomas, educational programs associate for the Clinton Foundation. Special projects coordinator Chloe Maxwell read a letter from U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-District 2, on his behalf.

Local on 06/21/2017

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