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MU College of Education faculty memberEryca Neville
M Ed '96, PhD '06“What information have we traditionally taught that has turned off such a large portion of the population,” Neville asks in response to low testing scores and high dropout rates nationwide. She believes teachers too often reinforce homogeneous knowledge. “Sharing that Columbus sailed the ocean blue, without also presenting the perspective of those who were in the Americas before Columbus, reinforces stereotypes that are not conducive to learning for all students.”
Neville’s progressive perspective focuses on using education to make social studies accessible and relevant to youth. In a recent project, she partnered fifth grade students and preservice teachers to create an interactive museum exhibit. The exhibit, “Through Indian Eyes,” showed students an entirely new perspective that went far beyond the written word.
“Students combined art, music, literacy and writing to create a broad framework for the history lesson,” Neville says. “Students learned about and created a personal framework to understand the Indians’ experiences.”
The museum exhibit reinforced Neville’s main lesson for her undergraduate student teachers: create an environment that gives all people space to explore. She explains that some students became interested in the history unit because of the art aspect, others because of the writing aspect.
“Student success depends on how welcome students feel and how teachers focus on learning and the dynamics of the relationships in the classroom,” Neville says. Neville models that each voice, each skill set and even complaints are valid in her classroom — even if she doesn’t agree with them. “We have to have a safe space.”
She tries to implement this inclusive model in her MU classrooms with the hope student teachers will follow her lead after graduation. And, with good reason.
Neville has three children, each of whom she wants to grow as individuals. She hopes their teachers work with them as who they are, instead of forcing them to a certain norm.
“I want all kids to feel included in classrooms and all teachers to care about their students’ learning,” Neville says. “To interest kids in school, they need a place to advance to their next level as who they are. Not as cookie cutters.”