"George Washington's cows were kept upstairs,” the children at Hacker Elementary heard through ZOOM online chat. “And given their own special room,” an EKU Corbin CAPT student read.
“They never were seen by light of day,” the children observed as CAPT students reenacted the story.
Through ZOOM, an interactive video conferencing program, students in the University’s Clinical Apprenticeship for Preparation of Teachers (CAPT) program at the Corbin regional campus implement technology to create engaging lessons and reach a larger number of students. Recently, CAPT students had the opportunity to read to a third-grade classroom at Hacker Elementary in Clay County, from a classroom at the EKU Corbin campus. Using the book, “George Washington's Cows,” by David Small, costumed EKU students acted out the book as they read to the students. The third-grade students were likewise successfully able to interact with the CAPT students.
With the help of ZOOM, CAPT has developed an additional style of teaching called the “EKU to Elementary Classrooms” project, which connects EKU students at the Corbin Campus, teacher candidates at Corbin schools and classrooms around the region. The CAPT program itself provides hands-on learning from inside the classroom for the teacher candidates, highly experienced prospective employees and extra assistance for the administrators and instructors at the schools. ZOOM is a tool to give teacher candidates more teaching experience and gives elementary and middle school students a more diverse education.
“I think it benefits students, teachers and CAPT program students by providing a great opportunity to teach to multiple cultures and classrooms, and to get experience in the teaching field,” said Aaron Asher, a third- and fourth-grade grade math teacher at Hacker Elementary School.
CAPT students have used ZOOM many times to teach in multiple classrooms at one time without ever leaving the Corbin campus. On another occasion, CAPT students had a session with Ashley Hill’s fourth-grade class at Corbin Elementary to read “How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World,” by Marjorie Priceman. To further engage the elementary students, they virtually "tracked" the journey of the girl as she traveled around the world to find ingredients for an apple pie.
Logan Hicks, a student teacher in Hill’s fourth-grade class from Corbin Elementary, had the opportunity to be involved in the program of learning.
“By using ZOOM, I was able to engage my students in a unique learning opportunity,” Hicks said. “Incorporating technology has so many benefits, including student engagement. I was also able to integrate different subject areas, including reading and social studies, in a lesson that was both fun for teachers and students!”
With the help of ZOOM, the “EKU to Elementary Classrooms” project demonstrates even more benefits for EKU’s CAPT program.
“This exciting program allows Corbin CAPT Methods students to create lessons and interact with elementary classrooms,” CAPT Co-Director Dr. Connie Hodge said. “The elementary students are thrilled that college students are teaching them lessons. It is a great outreach program for the EKU College of Education.”
For more information about ZOOM or the CAPT program, contact Dr. Connie Hodge at EKU’s Corbin campus at 859-622-6776.
-- by Mikayla Estepp, Regional Stewardship Public Relations Intern