Today on Education Counts Michiana; African drumming and music program, Robinson Community Learning Center, the Wagon Wheel Conservatory, Dinosaur Discovery in Mishawaka parks.

Education counts Michiana is underwritten by Pokagon band of Potawatomi.

Investing in education and economic development for centuries, supporting the past, current and future development of the Michiana region.

Community Foundation of Elkhart County.

Inspire good.

Kosciusko County Community Foundation, where donor dreams shine.

The Dekko Foundation, Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, LaGrange County Community Foundation, NIPSCO, the Beim Foundation, United Way of Elkhart County, United Way of St. Joseph County, Marshall County Community Foundation.

Ready to Grow St. Joe Early Childhood Coalition and a Gift by Elmer and Dolores Tepe.

Thank you.

Welcome to Education Counts Michiana.

I'm your host, James Summers.

Education Counts highlights programs and initiatives that are impacting how we teach, how we learn and how we embrace education.

This program explores ideas in all education sectors; preschool through lifelong learning, K-12, post-high school, and job advancement training with the philosophy that we should never stop seeking knowledge.

Find additional resources at WNIT.org and on the Education Counts Facebook page.

First up, intuitive learning.

At the Discovery Enrichment Center in Benton Harbor, students are given the opportunity to learn through various social and cognitive activities and programs.

The new African Drumming and Music program teaches students about different instruments and gives them the opportunity to play and learn through sound.

Trevor Fowler produced this segment.

So, the Discovery Enrichment Center is the kindergarten of Benton Harbor Area Schools.

We also hold the Great Start Readiness Program; GSRP.

So, we have preschool in our building too, even though I don't think they're technically a part of Benton Harbor area schools, but they feed into it.

So, it's just where a lot of the students in the area, most of the students in the area get their beginning of formal education.

Raise your hand if you can tell me what this kind of drum is called.

What's the name for this drum?

Mikhaila, can you tell us really loud?

Yeah, that's right, it's djembe.

Everybody say djembe.

All right, Mikhaila can grab a djemble.

Kaiden, Isaiah, Kaydence, Tory, Jordan, [inaudible] Ruby and Matthew.

A djembe.

So it's D J E M B E. It's a djembe.

I didn't have enough djembes for everybody.

So Matthew has a tubano.

Do you want to show him the tubano?

Can you pick it up and come over here?.

This is a tubano.

It's straight up and down, and then djembes have the--yeah.

Dejembes have the rounded top.

So I already had this djembe from--the middle school has several drums so I was able to borrow one.

And so I've been using that throughout the year for, like, rhythm echoes, for teaching them about different instruments.

And then at the beginning of 2021, it was right after New Year's, there was--the Benton Harbor Education Foundation was taking grant applications and I think the high school band director recommended it or something.

But I decided to do, like, an African drumming project.

And I found a website that has, like, a whole package of all of these drums, plus a ton of other African instruments, like smaller ones, shakers and scrapers like that that the kids are able to use.

And so I applied for it.

And the original idea was to, like, incorporate it into Black History Month.

But I mean, we did this project last month, so didn't quite make it in time.

But they are still a lot of very cool, interesting and different instruments that the kids--I mean, I didn't run into until college.

So I think it's very cool to be able to give these kids that experience at this age.

Good, now we're going to take turns and pass the beat around.

Kinesthetic learning, you learn through doing.

You learn through motion and actually interacting with things.

And so the kids are way more likely to remember this African drumming experience than, like,--we started learning, like, how to read So and Mi on the staff, like, they're going to remember this way more than that.

So hands-on learning, it's just a more engaging experience that they have a lot more fun with.

If you think back to, like, when you were in school it's not fun to, like, learn things you don't like.

You're more engaged, you learn better and, like, everything sticks with you longer when it's a fun experience.

And I think that's pretty easy to do with music in kindergarten.

I think a lot of it is just intrinsically very fun.

This is my first year out of college, so this is my first teaching job, and to be able to bring something totally new to the school with the support of, like, my fellow staff and my principal and my superintendent and everybody like that, it feels very good to be able to broaden their horizons in this way.

So it's a very hands-on activity and it is something, like, that's very doable for kids, drums especially are, like,--I mean, they can go nuts on them and it's--it's still music.

It might not always sound like it, but it's still music, whereas other, I guess, more complex instruments, like, I can't hand a clarinet to these kids and I expect them to be able to really make music out of it where it's so easy for them to engage and feel successful playing these drums.

I think it's pretty fun.

Do you guys think it's fun?

OK, good.

I just really want them to remember the importance of hands-on learning for one, and then also looking at different cultures and like reading into a little more, even though it's different from us, that never makes it bad.

It's something that is that way for a reason and we want to understand it and respect it and be able to learn from it, and I think these African drums are a very good vessel for that.

We are going to give you 10 seconds of free play.

Again, who are you looking to the cut off for?

You.

Yeah.

All right, Ready.

Set.Go.

Learn more about the program at WNIT.org.

Robust learning.

The Robinson Community Learning Center in South Bend has been providing a preschool program for the past decade.

It was only available to children of adults on site.

After moving to the new location, the program now offers high-quality early childhood education to the public.

Brent Fox produced this story.

The Robinson Community Learning Center provides many classes and resources for people of all ages, even having its very own preschool program.

The Robinson Center has had English as a new language classes here for twenty years since we started, taught by the South Bend Community School Corporation's adult ed teachers.

So they've had families.

We usually have sixty to eighty adults here learning English, and we do right now inside the building.

But families that have come here to a new place don't have the family support that they would have in their home countries.

And so parents had asked for a way for their children to come to school and start preparing to excel here as well and to create community.

So out of a request from parents, we started our preschool program for only the children whose parents were in English classes.

I'm from Bangladesh and whenever I come to U.S., I was searching preschool for my son and I got this Robinson Center close to my house.

So, also I was a student of this Robinson Community Learning Center, and right now I'm an advisory board member.

It is absolutely wonderful being a preschool teacher at the Robinson Community Learning Center and it's amplified by our wonderful new classroom.

It's wonderful that we get to accommodate more students and we get to accommodate them in different ways with our new amenities, because last year in the preschool, there was no windows.

It wasn't that much space, and there was no way we could accommodate two groups of ten kids in that space.

Their focus for mental, physical, and fine motor activities, development, that the preschool is full of resources and activities and they have a field trip.

They have leave back that help-- are so good for--for people--for my son.

And also because we are--English as a second language for my son, it's helped him to learn English fluently.

And--and the preschool teachers are well trained, well managed.

So the people my son for the kindergarten and my son is right now going to a magnet school.

That's Kennedy and the Robles And he still he loves the Robinson preschool.

What's really great about following the high school curriculum in our classroom is that it is really kind of run by the kids.

And it's a play-based curriculum that the kids get to choose what they want to do and they get to learn through experimentation and learning.

And we're really there as teachers to scaffold and help them bring their ideas to life.

So our high school curriculum is great in the classroom.

Initially only being available to the children of parents who were in other classes at the center, the new building has allowed the program to become fully licensed and expand.

We have been a preschool for ten years and this is the first year that we've been licensed in this amazing new building.

It's the first time we've been able to be licensed.

And what's exciting about that is we can suddenly be part of past equality.

We can start accepting children from the community for On my Way pre-K. We can accept state vouchers for child care so that families from the community who couldn't come before because they weren't in our English classes can now come and have their children here in this incredibly diverse center with children from around the world who are learning English, but also who are from the community that all come together here to get ready to excel in an American school system.

But it was a proper before, but people didn't know about it.

The students, we, the--we and the community member, we did--we knew about it.

But right now, from now, the all the community people, the all--the full city, they can know that they have it.

Good preschool.

It means that there's a lot more requirements.

But it's nice to have something official that we can say to attract more families.

And it just means that we have a really solid curriculum because it's amazing that we were able to get license and it just shows how great the program is.

Becoming licensed is a great process for everybody because obviously the state is worried about the safety and health of the children and the welfare of the children.

We've worked hard to make sure that our policies and our curriculum are top notch.

We're working very hard on becoming Past Equality three now that we have our licensure, which means that our parent involvement is strong, that our teacher, training and education is strong and that the experience that the children receive in the classroom is the best that it can be.

By having its preschool program licensed, the Robinson Community Learning Center is able to provide more families with access to high quality early childhood education.

There are so many studies that prove that having an early childhood education, going to preschool, is very important to children's future success, especially since so many of our children speak a different language at home.

We want to give them a solid basis, really get them exposed to the English language before they head off to kindergarten so that they're ready to learn once they get there.

Find out more at WNIT.org.

The art of production.

The Wagon Wheel Conservatory gives students the opportunity to know what it takes to play a part in large productions.

With courses run by experienced theater professionals, they teach students the importance of finding their own unique voices on stage or behind the scenes.

Something that I think can be overlooked in a--in a normal public education system is the idea of seeing the world through somebody else's lens, seeing the world through somebody else's eyes, getting to know intimately the experience of other people by learning about how to speak the truth from somebody else's perspective.

So we feel like Wagon Wheel Conservatory can be really beneficial to the students of the community in a lot of different ways.

One of the ways is that students who might not find a home in sports, might not find a home in other traditional activities, might find theater is the place where they really thrive and find companions and find their voice.

It's probably one of the most rewarding things; seeing kids that love theater, are really excited about the arts, something I've been passionate about my whole life.

It's great to have them come in the building and feel that energy and get that excitement.

We have so many kids that do one show and then they're hooked and they're doing show after show, after show, after show every single year.

And now they're taking classes and they're getting that education and the training to become better actors and better performers.

And for me, it's really what means community in Warsaw is to bring those kids into the building.

Courses here at Wagon Wheel, they're really informative and they're very professional.

And so you get that professional experience as a young student and you get to start off your career with that foundation of knowing how--how professional theaters work and how they function.

And you also get that connection from everybody else in the theater.

So you have those connections in the future when you go to look for jobs or want to apply to schools or--and they're just like good foundational skills for any job, too.

So not even just theater, like, you could go into anything else and you're going to be set for people skills.

Theater is also a great way to learn how to get up in front of a group.

I always tell my students eighty percent of acting is being willing to look silly in front of other people.

The self-confidence that that provides to the students is extremely beneficial and translates to the traditional classroom as well.

It helps prepare them to make presentations in their classroom.

It even helps prepare them for job interviews in their futures.

Just being able to sit and talk with someone and speak their truth.

It started out with just, basically, we do a show, we put it up in ten days and then we'd run it for a weekend.

And we did several of these throughout the year.

And then we decided now it's time to expand that we have a pretty good base and we really felt like we needed to do some classes and have more of a steady outline throughout the year where we're doing, you know, we had dance camps, we've had dance workshops over the weekends, we've had classes, we've had acting classes, we have improv classes.

We had all these things going on in the theater.

And we thought it was finally time this year to bring it all together and to kind of get it under one umbrella organization.

And we thought starting off with a conservatory, which means that it covers all arts, whether that's going to be music or media or performance based stuff.

So we wanted to do something that really involved a name that would cover all of those things and give us room to expand in the future.

Whether we want--we're going to be planning on doing voice lessons.

We're planning on doing musical lessons of kind, piano.

We don't know where it can go.

So we just wanted one umbrella name that we could have out there, that we could put all of these new things and give us room to grow into the future.

At the conservatory, we will offer dance classes, music lessons.

So singing and piano.

Of course, acting classes.

That's the--the main focus for me specifically.

And we offer them from the age ranges of-- second grade is really where we start, of course, there's lots of script reading and things like that, so we kind of start at the second grade level to make sure everybody's on the same page and--and able to read.

And then we're looking forward to expanding and offering adult classes as well.

We have a really thriving community theater here, at Wagon Wheel, under our umbrella, and a lot of passionate adults who love theater and want to continue their education.

The conservatory will probably grow so much and expand to so many more people than it did before.

And so many more kids will get the opportunity to learn and to explore and to try new things and ask questions and meet with all these people who are professionals in their field and get those experiences from them.

We have scholarships.

If people think that they can't afford it or they don't have the time, we try to get it in hours that we can bring the kids into the building at any time during the day or night.

We have just weekend things.

We've been doing some Zoom.

And, you know, if kids--we've had people from Arizona that have been in this community before who've moved away, who really want to take classes with us still.

And so we're able to do that through Zoom.

So, they were able to be a part of these programs and stuff.

So we just really want to make it broad reaching to everyone in our community to let everyone know that it's available and accessible to them.

Conservatory sounds like a big word.

It's really not.

It just means all encompassing.

We just wanted one word.

It doesn't mean that it's going to be elitist or any of those things.

It is really accessible and for everyone to be involved in the arts and we're trying to make that as simple and accessible as possible.

To find out more, check out WNIT.org.

Dinosaurs are a popular interest to many young explorers.

Because they walked the Earth millions of years ago, it can be hard to picture what they might have looked like roaming around.

A new augmented reality experience through the Mishawaka Parks and Rec Department will let little learners see dinosaurs in a modern day setting.

Imagine walking through the park when suddenly through your phone's camera, you see a T-Rex standing in front of you.

That's what happens as part of the Mishawaka Parks Recreation Department's Dinosaur Discovery It's augmented reality.

It's a new technology for us to have on a river walk.

It allows you to engage with our river walk in a whole new way.

We have selected for this month and next month a dinosaur to appear here at Battell Park, but also at Beutter Park, you can have the insect experiment or experience.

So what's cool about it is you have technology, but also you have an educational component.

So as you slide through and make the different animals appear, you can then learn about that animal or that insect.

Being able to get an up close look at these extinct animals is easy to do.

We have signage that's already on the river walk.

You walk up to the sign with your phone, you scan the QR code, it will prompt you to download the app.

And then from there, you can place the dinosaur or the insect wherever you would like, and then you can engage with it.

You can walk all the way around it.

And then you also can then learn about that animal or insect.

Augmented Reality is when you're bringing an item or a thing or an event that shouldn't be where you're in a space you are right now to that space.

So in the example you'll see right now in the parks, we're bringing a dinosaur in.

A dinosaur should not be in this space, but now you're actually able to see the dinosaur.

The entire experience was made possible through a partnership between the Parks Department and School City of Mishawaka.

About three or four years ago, we heard from Google, who's our partner in education, that they launched an application called Google Expeditions.

And we had an opportunity in one of our fourth grade classrooms led by Ryan Mitchell at Hums Elementary to actually create our own expedition in an expedition is a virtual field trip so students can be transported while they're still in the classroom to a place that they're not supposed to be in.

It could be the Grand Canyon.

They could be all the way across the world.

And what we had the opportunity to do with Google is actually create an expedition of the city through virtual reality.

And so we did that in partnership with the Hannah-Lindahl Museum.

They created their first virtual reality.

Ryan Mitchell and his fourth grade class created a virtual reality tour of historic sites in Mishawaka.

We actually provided a gift, Ryan Mitchell and his class, and we provided the gift of the tour to Phil Blasko and the Parks Department at one of our board meetings.

And then we also shared with them at that time that they launched augmented reality.

And Phil became very interested in it.

And Phil and I had more conversations and he had the amazing idea of 'Could we bring this to our parks?'.

And so we started investigating and started taking that dive into seeing how could we bring augmented reality into our parks for not just our students, but for all the community members.

Bringing augmented reality into the parks is meant to encourage and engage with the members of the community.

We're always in the Parks Department finding--trying to find unique ways to engage with our community.

The ultimate goal is to find a way to bring the history of Mishawaka back to life.

You know, the ball band, the Red Ball Jet was made here in Mishawaka.

So we're working with School City in Mishawaka to find a way to have that 3-D scanned into this app to be able to bring the history of Mishawaka back.

So the kids that may not know that that shoe was made here in Mishawaka, they can walk up to one of these signs and have it appear almost as if it's in real life and then learn about it.

And we really value and see ourselves as community schools.

And we want to be part of our community and we want to really engage not only our students, but everyone in every-- anywhere, any time learning.

Learning doesn't just have to happen in the classroom.

It can go beyond the four walls.

And so this will not only be an opportunity for our students and teachers, but for community members and really bridging that between community members and the schools, bringing us together for learning and new experiences and innovation.

Our goal isn't just fun.

We also want to engage in all different ways.

And educational as a component is definitely a great avenue for us to explore, especially when we partner with School City of Mishawaka.

They're a great partner of ours and they're educational-focused and having them as part of a partner of the Parks Department allows us to think outside the box and not just think of your typical playground or typical park.

Now, how can we engage in an educational component as well.

Just like the real dinosaurs, this experience is only here for a short time, but there will be even more augmented reality experiences coming to the parks in the future.

After July, we are going to switch the themes.

We'll have a new theme here, Battell Park and a new theme at Beutter Park.

What we really want to look towards in the future is creating our own augmented reality and we've started this process.

Ben Modlin has an engineering and design class at the high school, Mishawaka High School, and we have taken some of those students to Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame, and they have taught us how to scan augmented items and make them into augmented reality.

And so what we really hope to do is to bring the rich history of Mishawaka to life through augmented reality and have that in our park.

So not only are we doing the cool things like the dinosaurs, tornadoes and other items, we want to actually bring back the rich history of Mishawaka and let others experience that while in the park.

Check out WNIT.org for more information on all of these stories.

Thank you for joining us on Education Counts Michiana.

Engage with us on our website, Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Do you know of an initiative in education that's making a difference shared with us the success of every student matters.

This WNIT local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Education counts Michiana is underwritten by Pokagon band of Potawatomi.

Investing in education and economic development for centuries, supporting the past, current and future development of the Michiana region.

Community Foundation of Elkhart County.

Inspire good.

Kosciusko County Community Foundation, where donor dreams shine.

The Dekko Foundation, Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, LaGrange County Community Foundation, NIPSCO, the Beim Foundation, United Way of Elkhart County, United Way of St. Joseph County.

Marshall County Community Foundation.

Ready to Grow St. Joe Early Childhood Coalition and a Gift by Elmer and Dolores Tepe.

Thank you.