Students SAIL Through Summer Learning

By Sue Hagan, ThisWeek Staff Writer
Photos by David Rea, ThisWeek photographer

Alexis Sharp, a student from Otterbein College, works with Indianola Middle School student Jermaine Humphrey at the Olentangy Wetland Research Park June 23 off of Dodridge St., near The Ohio State University. The visit is part of a three-week camp pairing Otterbein education students with Columbus middle school students.

Martin Cannon's list of the plants and animals he had found was quite inclusive.

"We found a shell, I think it was a snail," the Clintonville-area seventh-grader said. He also found four different insects, six wetlands plants that he identified by their pictures, and what looked like a paw print on a wooden walkway.

"It was actually a little bug that was casting a large shadow," said Patty Darvishi, his teacher from Indianola Middle School.

Not everyone in the group visiting the Olentangy Wetlands, near State Route 315 and Dodridge St., was as enthusiastic as Martin. Some were hesitant to walk along the 18-inch-wide boardwalks that extended dozens of yards over the water.

But they all spotted the soft-stem bulrushes and cattails that dominate the site, noted the depth of the water and looked for an elusive water lily.

At the same time, Columbus teachers practiced instructional techniques they can use in the fall when school starts up again, and education students from Otterbein College got a dose of "real-world" teaching.

The trip to the wetlands was part of the three-week SAIL (Summer Academy for Integrated Learning) program, a collaboration among Columbus Public Schools, Otterbein College, and Project GRAD Columbus.

In its second year, SAIL started June 15 and ends Friday (July 2). It involves 13 CPS teachers, eight Otterbein education students, and about 60 kids from Crestview, Linmoor, Indianola and Medina middle schools.

Jill Ciersezwski, a student from Otterbein College, holds the hand of Linmoor Middle School student Larissa Williamson as they cross over a boardwalk at the Olentangy Wetland Research Park June 23.

Project co-director Diane Ross, of Otterbein's education department, said that combination reflects the primary mission of SAIL: to create a learning partnership among teachers, education students and middle schoolers.

"Research shows that learning is best done collaboratively," she said. "As we are integrating learning practices, we are also integrating people. ... We are all a community of learners."

With one teacher for every two children, SAIL fosters a close community.

"We are learning more about our students than we could possibly imagine we would," said Otterbein senior Alexis Sharp.

"We see what's going on in their lives, and we talk about life in general," she said.

"This is professional development to a 'T,'" she added. "We talk with the Columbus teachers about now we might have done (a lesson) a different way ... and how we can apply this to how we teach."

While the stated purpose of SAIL is to provide training for future and current teachers, the fact that the students are broadening their educational horizons is just as important.

The project has an environmental focus, and kids have looked at recycling, pollution and conservation. The emphasis is on math and science skills, but language arts, social studies and art are also tied in for a multidisciplinary approach.

The teaching approach is also multi-faceted: the kids learn from guest speakers, field trips and classes taught at Crestview Middle School.

Jermaine Humphrey, an eighth-grader at Indianola Middle School, said what he is learning goes beyond books.

"I've learned that if you make mistakes, you can learn from it," he said, adding that he "messed up" his role in a skit.

"I learned that more practice will keep you from making mistakes," he said.

The ability to realize that mistakes are part of learning is an important skill for students and teachers alike, said Ross.

She said this team of learners -- students and teachers -- will continue to work together in the fall.

"The Columbus teachers received six hours of graduate credit free of charge," she said. "When we place the (Otterbein) students in the field (to learn teaching methods) we place them with these (CPS) teachers."

"Then in the fall, when the teachers use the methods they have learned, they will have some of these same students."

Ross said she also intends to bring some of the middle school kids from SAIL to visit the Otterbein campus in the fall.