Education students at Cedarville University have the opportunity to encourage and coach elementary-age students remotely, thanks to the efforts of a Cedarville grad, Sherri Washburn, who is also a member of Winona Lake, Ind., Grace Brethren Church (Kip Cone, lead pastor). The efforts are detailed in a story on the Cedarville website. A portion appears below. Click here to read the complete article.
Education Majors Encourage Young Writers Online
COVID-19 regulations have made it difficult for Cedarville education students to gain teaching experience this year. But a teaching tool called Kidblog is giving students the opportunity to encourage and coach elementary-age writers remotely.
About three years ago, Sherri (Gerdes) Washburn ’90, a second-grade teacher in Akron, Indiana, learned from other teachers how their students’ writing performance improved using a computer rather than paper. This inspired Washburn to start Kidblog.
For the last two years, Washburn has assigned a writing buddy to each student, someone she knew was safe and would provide online feedback and encouragement. This academic year, Kevin Jones, Dean of the School of Education, connected her with Cedarville education students to serve in this role.
Here’s how it works: Washburn’s students write, and Cedarville students write back and encourage them. Washburn corrects any spelling or punctuation errors, leaving Cedarville students free to build up and support the students.
“Throughout the course of the program, I have learned how to more effectively communicate with younger kids in a way that makes them feel appreciated and heard,” said Andrew Reinhard ’22, a math and science middle education student at Cedarville. Cedarville students are encouraged to pray for their students too.
Washburn has been heartened by Kidblog’s success. “I will honestly say that on those really hard days of being a teacher, I reread the notes from my writing buddies and remember someone else cares for my students’ education too,” she said.
Click here to read the complete article.
