Program Seeks Participants for Partnerships With Local Schools

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Toby Fitzsimons, a researcher in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, demonstrates states of matter for students at Owl Creek School in Fayetteville.

The University of Arkansas Education Renewal Zone is seeking faculty members, staff members and doctoral students in all academic departments to partner with local public school teachers through the Adopt-A-Classroom program.

The program, based in the College of Education and Health Professions, is in its third year. Faculty and staff who participate will be matched with a K-12 teacher in one of 27 partner schools. These are schools in rural areas or schools that serve populations typically underrepresented in higher education. The purpose of the program is to expose students to opportunities in higher education and K-12 teachers to up-to-date content knowledge and resources in their field through the partnership with university faculty and staff.

“We welcome faculty and staff from all academic areas,” said Elizabeth Smith, director of the Education Renewal Zone. “Previous participants include tenured faculty, a campus librarian, departmental web administrators and musicians. This is an opportunity for all campus representatives to promote higher education in local schools and connect students and teachers with the UA representative’s content area through interactive classroom experiences.” 

Previous participants have also used school partnerships to conduct research along classroom teachers.

Suki Highers, a U of A graduate of the Master of Arts in Teaching program, teaches sociology at Fayetteville High School. She partnered with Kevin Fitzpatrick, a professor of sociology.

“What I got out of the experience is less important than what my students got out of the experience,” Highers said. “It was amazing for them to have a professor from the university come in and do a project with them. Many of my students had no idea the kind of work you could do with a degree in sociology. Making the connection with the university inspired a lot of my students to decide to attend the U of A and pursue a major in sociology. It was also exciting for students to do sociology on a college level.”

Highers encouraged other teachers to participate in Adopt-A-Classroom.

“Sometimes it is hard to turn over our classes, but it is a great experience for everyone involved,” she said. “Students learned from a professor, and learned they were people, too. Professors learned a lot about the public school experience, and how it differed from their own; and, as a teacher, I learned a lot about the connections between what I do in the high school and how that prepares graduates for the college experience.”

Ron Warren, associate professor of communication, was paired with Casey Prock, a seventh-grade English language arts teacher at Elkins Middle School.

“It is definitely fun to be in a room of enthusiastic kids,” Warren said. “Every session was a highlight for me. It was also very interesting to see how college-level content connects with what students learn in K-12 education. It encourages me to keep thinking about what my own students are bringing into the classroom.”

The program takes some of the mystery out of college for K-12 students, Warren said.

“They could see that college professors are actually quite normal people who teach interesting content in fun and challenging ways,” he said. “There’s no better way to help kids include college in their plans for the future.”

The program offers service-minded faculty and staff members the chance to have a positive impact on students and teachers, Smith said, and the visits also could serve as recruitment or research opportunities.

Training sessions are offered for interested partners to review the program and offer tips for success. For more information, complete the interest form available online or contact Smith at 575-3641. The deadline is Sept. 11.

There are several options for participants that range from a commitment to teach in a local school three times during a semester to up to eight times during a school year.