Page 2
Campus News
The Clarion \ November 20, 2019
Future educators make field trips happen
By Jorden Rice and Grace Kelley
Contributors
This semester, the students in EDU 318:
Methods in Teaching Eiementary Science and
Social Studies, have been learning how to
plan and implement field trips in their future
experiential-based classrooms.
Collaborating with Dr. Brown and Dr. Hillyer,
the students planned two separate field trips
to enhance the experiential content in the
professors’ respective college courses. The first
step of this intensive process required the future
teachers to apply for Brevard College Pedagogy
funds to pay for the vans and activity fees.
Next, the EDU 318 students met with Brown
and Hillyer to establish specific historical and
biological learning targets for visiting Vance
Birthplace and Holmes State Educational Forest,
both local educational sites. Then, the students
had a phone conference with site educator at
Vance Birthplace and met with the educators
THE Clarion
Senior Staff
Editor In Chief .
Managing Editor
Copy Editor. . .
Campus News.
Opinion
Arts & Life . . .
Sports
Layout & Design
Faculty Adviser.
Sam Hipp
Lande Simpson
Solomon Turner
Mary Lewe
Zach Dickerson
Carmen Boone
Zach Dickerson
Julie Carter
Chloe McGee
Chloe McGee
Margaret Correll
John B. Padgett
Breanna Queen
Amber Vance
The Clarion is a student-mn college newspaper produced
by student journalists enrolled at Brevard College.
Unsigned editorials represent the collective opinion of
the staff of The Clarion. Other opinions expressed in
this newspaper are those of respective authors and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the faculty, staff
All correspondence should be mailed to:
The Clarion, Brevard College, One Brevard
College Drive, Brevard, NC 28712, or send
E-mail to clarion@brevard.edu
clarion.brevard.edu
M Letters Policy: The Clarion welcomes
letters to the editor. We reserve the right to edit
letters for length or content. We do not pnhlish
anonymous letters or those whose authorship
cannot he verified.
at Holmes to explore ways to align the learning
targets with potential site activities.
The face-to-face contact combined with the
phone call allowed for conversations about the
curriculum and fostered undeniable confidence
ahead of the trip. The EDU 318 students created
a two-column “Noticing and Wondering”
note-catcher to provide a space to jot down
any new learning and/or questions for Holmes.
Additionally, the students created a brochure
to capture knowledge about Governor Vance’s
subsistence mountain farming and the lives of
enslaved people working on the plantation.
The first trip, during the week before Fall break,
had BIO 105 students pile into vans to head to
Holmes near Dupont Forest. Small raindrops
began to fall but did not deter the students from
a phenomenal learning opportunity. Divided
into two groups, the students completed four
learning stations that covered a range of topics
from the Food Web to the Carbon Cycle, led by
Holmes environmental educators, Susan Fay,
Amy Kinsella, EJ Dwiggens, and Jan Dauster.
By the end of the experience, the rain was
coming down in buckets but it still didn’t
dampen the learning. Ranger Amy Kinsella built
a fire to warm the soaking wet bodies, which
added to her presentation about the benefits of
control burning.
“All the lessons at the forest were on target
with the learning outcomes for our ecosystem’s
lesson,” said Hillyer.
“My favorite part of Holmes State Forest was
learning about Western NC mushrooms,” said
current student. Brad Stewart. “I think it helped
our BIO 105 class to actually see an ecosystem
in person rather than just reading about it in our
textbook.”
Opportunities for learning how to facilitate
a field trip continued when the students visited
Governor Vance’s Birthplace in Weaverville, NC
on the sunny Friday before Fall break.
As the smdents inNC 255 toured the mountain
plantation and replica dwellings, the museum
guide spoke directly about how the terminology
used to describe slavery over the years has
changed. Instead of using the term “slave,”
the preferred historically accurate term is now
“enslaved person.”
This shift in language reflects the change in
mindset as it acknowledges that slavery was a
condition that people were forced into, not a
choice. According to author Audi Cumbo, “By
changing from the use of a name - slaves - to an
adjective - enslaved- we grant these individuals
an identity as people and use a term to describe
their position in society rather than reducing
them to that position. In a small but important
way, we carry them forward as people, not the
property that they were in that time.”
One main activity at Vance’s Birthplace was
called “History Mystery.” During this time,
various artifacts from the past were handed out
and groups had a few minutes to figure out as
much as possible about the artifact. Then, a
representative from each group would go up
to the front of the room, present the object to
everyone, and talk about how they think it might
have been used. Then, different hints would be
given until students finally figured it out or ended
up admitting defeat.
Students helped digest this information
through the use of the reflective brochure.
Inside, students had to pick one artifact, create an
illustration, identify its purpose and its modem
alternative. “Seeing a difference in the way they
lived. It helped me appreciate what we have,”
History major and teacher candidate, Allison
Rogers said.
The field experience was finished with a craft.
Everyone was able to make a button spinner
which was described as the fidget spinner of the
past. The constmction of a button spinner was
quite simple as it was a wooden button on a white
string. The real skill came in trying to use one.
“The Vance Birthplace historic site helped
students understand what slavery looked like
in the mountains. Most people imagine an
antebellum plantation with house servants, an
overseer, and women in hoop skirts. The distance
between mountain masters and the enslaved was
not so dramatic, but our guide helped students
see and understand the gulf between them,
nonetheless,” said Dr. Brown.
“Because many students in North Carolina
history are education majors, 1 appreciated the
way the guide tried to share information on
two levels. At the same time that she noted the
differences in daily life between planters and
the enslaved, she helped future teachers develop
ideas for talking about this difficult topic with
even elementary-aged children.”
Students in HIS 255 will use the experiences
at Vance’s Birthplace leading forward into their
final project. Moving full circle, in December,
the college students in HIS 255 will teach fourth
graders at Brevard Elementary a lesson about
children in the past.
Reflecting on the chance to have her methods
students, Jorden Rice and Grace Kelley, plan
field trips, Dr. Keiser siad, “This is what makes
Brevard College special. We are small enough
to work collaboratively with our colleagues to
make experiential education happen for our
students.”