UNO’s fifth annual Culture Walk gives teacher candidates the opportunity to learn more about the communities where they will teach.
Sarah Edwards is Department Chair of Teacher Education in the College of Education. She says the Culture Walk is a great way for future teachers to learn more about the resources available in each particular community.
Edwards says the students have to understand a child’s environment both in and out of the classroom.
"Omaha continues to have cultural boundaries and we need to have a way for students who may be from one part of Omaha to get to know the beauty of another part of Omaha. There’s also been a dramatic increase in foreign born students. Children residing with at least one immigrant parent account for 14% of children under the age of 18 in Nebraska. And so we have to search for ways to learn to teach other people’s children.”
Edwards says all 1200 undergraduates in the Educator Preparation Program will go on Culture Walks.
She says the event is held early in the semester before student teaching begins. Edwards says students walk in the communities they will teach in.
UNO’s Culture Walk takes place on Friday, September 13th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.