Students taught by Linda Sherwood from two courses, ELE3280 Reading Methods and ELE3340 Social Studies Methods, focused their research and projects on Cynthia Ann Parker for the spring 2015 semester. The students designed lessons around the life and story of Cynthia Ann Parker to create a unit with the central focus on reading and social studies. These lessons were aligned with the Common Core. Pre-service teachers were involved in designing a take-home project that area fifth-grade students completed as they toured the Cynthia Ann Parker exhibit in Booth Library. They also served as docents on the days the students visit. As an extension to this project, the early childhood/elementary/middle level education majors traveled to Mattoon Middle School to make presentations to sixth-grade reading and social studies classes.
The Tarble Arts Center’s 2015 Spring Fifth Grade Enrichment program was designed to complement Booth Library’s exhibit, Quanah and Cynthia Ann Parker: The History and the Legend. The Tarble will focus on the exhibition, Southwestern Pottery and Weavings from the Tarble and Area Collections. Featured are historic period and contemporary ceramics from the American Southwest and Navajo weavings from the Tarble Arts Center’s study collection, complemented by pieces from area public and private collections. Following a gallery tour/discussion about the art forms and their cultural significance, students created a design project using acrylic paint in the Tarble classroom inspired by works presented in the exhibition. These activities are coordinated by Kit Morice, Tarble curator of education.
