Students
and
faculty
in
Baldwin
Wallace
University's
Department
of
Education
renewed
a
pandemic-sidelined
summer
reading
program
this
year
with
a
new
partner
and
a
new
focus
on
lifting
both
the
academic
and
social
skills
of
young
students
after
a
year
of
remote
learning.
BW partnered with the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities (CCBDD) to host a Language, Literacy and Learning camp, which served rising K-3 students with general and special education needs. The young campers received individual and small group instruction in oral language development, literacy strategies, mathematics and social skills.
Dr. Rochelle Berndt, who specializes in literacy, co-directed the camp with special education faculty member Dr. Cynthia Dieterich, while BW early childhood and middle childhood education majors along with mild/moderate licensure candidates planned and led activities and served as tutors.
Berndt
says
the
pilot
partnership
with
CCBDD
offered
learning
all
around.
"We
enabled
children
with
special
needs,
who
are
serviced
by
the
county,
to
attend
the
camp
with
typically
developing
peers.
At
the
same
time,
the
BW
teacher
education
candidates
grew
in
their
understanding
of
differentiating
lessons
within
an
authentic
learning
environment."
Dieterich adds, "Collaborating with the CCBDD provides support to families and children with disabilities while benefitting the BW education candidates to better understand how to meet the individual needs of families and their children. Of equal importance is that our work supports the BW mission to prepare students to be compassionate citizens of the global world."
Berndt
notes
that
the
experience
for
BW
students
is
strongly
aligned
with
the
Department
of
Education's
plans
to
offer
a
dual
early
childhood
and
intervention
specialist
licensure
program.
"The success of the three-week summer program will enable the partnership to continue to grow, with the goal of offering after-school programming in future semesters," Berndt concludes.
This year's camp was supported by a Giving Circle Award grant from Women for BW as well as a generous donation from Harold Guenther, which also funded the "reinvention" of BW's long-running summer reading camp in 2019.
