A 3 Minute Train Ride:Navigating the Route from Wallingford Elementary School to Swarthmore College

A 3 Minute Train Ride word document

After taking the 3 minute train ride everyday to Wallingford, and after spending thirteen weeks at Wallingford Elementary School (WES), I have been trying to figure out why my student teaching experience has become such a landmark of my Swarthmore years. While it was the prime opportunity to put learned theory into real practice, I encountered many new experiences, challenges, and ideas. One factor I had not deeply considered was the influence of the community in which the school thrived and the faculty that interacted with a teacher on a daily basis. Several readings have mentioned the importance of understanding the community in which a teacher teaches, and knowing the culture and background of students. Because I was teaching in Wallingford, a few minutes away from Swarthmore College, I often thought I was living in the community I was teaching in. When I went back “home” to my dorm on campus, I would often be surrounded and reminded of the students and school, and I found this to be interesting, because having this connection really helped to build relationships within the school, both with faculty and students. On the other hand, I also found the line between personal life and student teaching to become very blurred, perhaps because of all the time invested outside of schools walls or because of the physical and social proximity I felt to the school. More ever, as I became to know the school, I realized how the community and elementary school clearly reflected back onto my experience at Swarthmore College.

I found Wallingford Elementary School and Swarthmore College to be inextricably linked to each other, which was evident to me by its physical proximity, social ties among various individuals in each community, and by my engagement in comparing and reflecting about the two schools. The physical proximity of the school allowed students to engage and use the campus in different ways. One student often came to the College’s soccer games, and many others regularly visited the campus for various reasons. One student filmed her Book Share project on the campus. Likewise, my involvement with Student Council back at the College allowed me to interact with a professor, who was also an active parent of the school. Also, because my professor was of the community, she knew many teachers at the school, and vice versa. Some parents had already “heard of” me before I had entered the school, because of their connection to the school or college, and I also ran into several parents and students either on campus or at the local grocery store throughout the thirteen weeks. There was always a link that would lead me back to Swarthmore and then back to WES. I traveled back and forth from college to school, wondering who I would run into next.

All of these connections inevitably helped me to adjust to the school, because there was always a topic of conversation at hand, and served as a starting point to engage in student lives. I had once coincidentally met a student going to the soccer game, and he seemed to enjoy this interaction. It was really these small things that allowed students to see me as a teacher and a college student in their community, that allowed me to get to know students individually. I don’t know how I would have fit in at another school. The context of the school seemed to be greatly influence the dynamics of my relationships within the school.

Furthermore, I was initially overwhelmed by the (positive) vitality of the elementary school. School days were always filled with extracurricular activities galore, meetings with everyone possible, and kids were pulled out from the classroom for activities ranging from making robots to special education language arts. Every student in my class played one instrument, and they were pulled out at least once a week for lessons. Several teachers commented how this was an improvement, because the school had recently restricted each student to just one instrument, opposed to two or more. Students were expected to balance these extracurricular activities with the academic rigor of the school. I felt that students were sometimes overwhelmed with choice, but I also believed that the richness of the environment nurtured students to exercise their multiple intelligences, stretch their critical thinking skills, and pursue well-developed interests, both academic and social. They were on their way to being agents of their education, for the most part.

In retrospect, I find it amusing that I was overwhelmed by this kind of environment because when I reflect back on my Swarthmore experience, I found the same kind of trends here. I may have been surprised to see it at the elementary level though, because my elementary school experience was quite different. So many times, I have been simultaneously overwhelmed and motivated by the opportunities and education here at Swarthmore. Swarthmore, I believe, has allowed me to develop my academic and personal interests, whether in education or psychology, my majors, through grants, seminars, or personal interactions with students and professors. I have been nurtured to value the importance of change, whether academic, social, or persona. In fact, I have been enacting this very change on the campus, whether through sitting on faculty-student committees, tutoring, advocating student voices and ideas, or learning about how social change happens in seminar. I really do think that this learning environment has allowed me to pursue a dynamic life, and thrive on constant intellectual curiosity.

While these skills and values are all wonderful, sometimes being too introspective and challenged became a struggle. Many times students feel that they must accomplish their goals on their own will, even if collaboration is high encouraged. I think that the encouragement of faculty is immense, especially relative to other undergraduate schools, but still sometimes see peers struggle with the academic flexibility and independence of learning. However, it is this very process that allows student to grow. It is this process that seems to instill students with the agency to evoke change and think beyond their own world. As a first semester senior, I have really come to appreciate the liveliness of students and faculty, and especially faculty willingness to collaborate with each other and with students. It really is a balancing act that is constantly in positive tension.

After looking back at how I’ve grown at Swarthmore, I have wondered if this is the way in which Wallingford Elementary School thrives. I had witnessed the founding of a “Global Warming Group” by a few fourth grade girls, committed to help combat the effects of global warming in their school. It is this liveliness that is encouraged and that the school has the resources to support. These students gathered during lunch and talked about the larger issues and then then ways to enact change in their schools. At times, I wondered if this was a mini version of an “action-based research seminar” on environmental studies, without the required readings. On the other side of the balancing act, I had witnessed students who struggle with all the activities had both inside and outside of school, but somehow everything seemed to be accomplished- whether through parent or teacher support, or both. Evermore, when a new student whose school environment had been drastically different came to WES and seemed surprised at the countless activities students were able, and encouraged to participate in. This student, on several occasions, showed signs of being overwhelmed by the choice, whether through words of frustrations, withdrawal from activities, or even crying. While I observed him slowly adjusting to the school, I realized the profound effects of community on the learning environment. It was the parents, the teachers, the students who created the school.

Through student teaching, I've found how the richness of an environment, truly allows an individual to absorb and grow. The academic content is equally important to and supplemented by the affect, enrichment, and interest of students, both explicitly and implicitly. I have seen WES as a school with a plethora of extracurricular opportunities (James Howe, band instruments, secret holiday workshops, book fair, Student Council, Turkey Bowl, Halloween parties, Math Olympics, Field Trips, teachers’ ability to differentiate, Spanish Club, French Club, Art Comes to School), and dedicated staff to implement this often hectic scheduling but invaluable experience for students. These students were exposed to tremendous amounts of “social capital”, which would most likely greatly benefit their success in society.

With these reflections, I rode the train, three minutes each way, back and forth from Wallingford Elementary School to Swarthmore College. The inevitable links between the two schools became more apparent with every train ride, as my relationship with the school grew as well. I have begun to see the effects of community on school and learning. I realize now that any experience in any other school or community would have been a completely different navigating experience. Navigating and getting to know the community seems to be an integral part of a teacher’s responsibility. It is through these interactions that build the school community, and enhance the learning environment. Knowing the community involves a teacher to be an individual of the community and just a teacher at school, which would definitely blur the lines between home and school. This balancing act seems to me, a great challenge- balancing one’s life work, ideals, and passions. I also have begun to deeply ponder about how teaching in an urban environment may have affected my relationship with the community, students, and school. Would teaching in Chester have changed my view about teaching? About learning? About community? Would all of what I wrote here still be relevant? I would like to think that each teaching experience would frame a different discussion about the same topic – education for each child, so that no one is “left behind”.

Reflections