“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” Yellow shirts with this famous Dr. Seuss quote across the back could be seen in every first and second grade classroom at West Vigo Elementary on Monday, March 3, 2014. On the front, they said “Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.” SMWC education majors and members of the College’s Future Teachers of America student organization wore them as they led activities in the classroom for Dr. Seuss’ birthday and National Education Association’s 17th annual Read Across America celebration.
Read Across America is a national event designed to encourage elementary students to read. This reading motivation and awareness celebration is held each year in conjunction with Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
“It means so much to me to have such a wonderful opportunity as an education major because it’s real classroom experience,” states Kristin Bell, junior art education major and president of Future Teachers of America at SMWC. “There’s always something that I can take away from the experience that actually pertains to my needs as a future educator. It gives students the challenge of handling differentiated learning tasks and more first hand. This is valuable because we, as future educators, can utilize this event to be more prepared and highly qualified teachers in the classroom.”
Fifteen students from The Woods participated by leading a lesson centered around the Dr. Seuss book, “Put Me in the Zoo.” The classroom activities included reading and discussing the book, decorating their own zoo animal masks and ending the lesson with an appropriate snack, zoo animal crackers. The students participating consisted of Future Teachers of America members and education majors enrolled in ED 203: Effectively Collaborating with Families and Community Resources.