week of 3/27/02
 
 
 

Students participate in cultural exchange
SMN
Teacher education students from Western Carolina University and North Carolina A&T State University recently had an opportunity to learn about cultures other than their own and pick up skills that will help them teach in diverse classrooms through the Rural-Urban Exchange, a new program in Western Carolina University’s College of Education and Allied Professions.

Four Western students from mostly white and rural backgrounds visited public schools and sampled the culture around the Greensboro university for a week in late February. And then, in early March, four N.C. A&T students traveled to Cullowhee to tour public schools and learn about mountain cultures. At each location, the four who were on their home turf served as hosts for the four visitors.

For the eight participating students, it was a chance “to step outside their comfort zones and acquire exposure to a culture that they knew little about,” said John Habel, WCU associate professor of psychology and program coordinator.

But the program isn’t just an opportunity for the students to learn about other cultures. Beginning teachers never know what their students’ backgrounds will be until they take that first classroom assignment, Habel said.

“This program is one piece of a comprehensive diversity plan to help teacher education students acquire the knowledge, skills and dispositions they’ll need to help all their students learn in school,” Habel said.

The four Western students who visited Greensboro — Christina Berry of Murphy, Jodi Dillard of Sylva, Rosanna Watts of Jonesville, and Heidi Willis of Canton — are all majoring in elementary education.