Coe-Polk relationship has enriched many students and teachers

By Christy Wolfe

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Whether teaching is an art or a science is up for debate. As an art, teaching is a creative endeavor that requires an innate ability to see beauty in raw materials. As a science, teaching is a methodological approach to maximizing learning for the future.

Whether it is one or both of these, it is undeniable that teaching is a profession best learned in a classroom, with real students with whom to interact and great teachers from whom to learn.

We in Coe College's Teacher Education Department have taken full advantage of our proximity to Polk Elementary School to forge a relationship that goes beyond any utilitarian purpose we originally envisioned. Coe students who have spent time at Polk come back on campus with a renewed sense of awe at how the teachers and staff at Polk reach out to their students.

They also have an affirmed sense of purpose as they relate tales of seeing that special light in the eyes of a child who “sounded it out” when she approached a new word, or of negotiating an elaborate standoff about interpretations of recess kickball rules.

As has been reported about the school closure conversations in the Cedar Rapids Community School District, most Polk students come from homes that struggle financially. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the 2009-10 school year, Polk's enrollment was 230 students; 204 of those qualified for free or reduced lunch, an indicator of socioeconomic status of a student population.

It is worth noting that 193 of those students were eligible for free lunch - that is, they are among our poorest poor.

If you talk to the Polk teachers and staff and the Coe students who have spent time volunteering at the school, they would be quick to tell you that the students' poverty does nothing to define them.

Inquisitiveness is not tied to how much your family makes. Creativity is not connected to a family's income. And a joy of learning is universal and limitless in most Polk classrooms.

I believe the teachers, staff and students at Polk would be surprised to know how much they have shaped our students.

Coe College students have volunteered in classrooms, worked as student teachers, filled backpacks with nutritional snacks for students to have over the weekend, and worked with students one-on-one in reading, math, and science projects. Most important, Coe students have joined Polk students on Halloween, been “lunch buddies” and have tied shoes, wiped tears and given hugs to many students over the years.

We thank the Polk teachers, staff members and administrators for opening their doors to Coe students. We want to give a special “shoutout” to Mrs. Karen Clark, a kindergarten teacher at Polk who has mentored Coe students for years. Mrs. Clark, you are responsible for guiding some amazing young people into the profession.

And we want to thank Polk students for opening their hearts and minds to Coe students. You have helped future teachers learn the nuances of the science of teaching and, by your generosity of opening your classrooms to our students, you have shown us the art of teaching the whole child.

Christy Wolfe is chair of the Teacher Education Department at Coe College in Cedar Rapids. Comments: cwolfe@coe.edu