Educators in Context and Community (ECCO)

ECCO learning community programming enhances the students’ skills, dispositions,

and knowledge about issues related to teaching in context.  We create a combination of programs to meet the social, emotional, intellectual, academic, and professional needs and interests of the members.

1. Experiential Programs

The best way to learn is by doing, and so we develop a lot of doing experiences for our students:

• 50-hour Field Placements each semester (1 day per week), working in real classrooms, alongside real teachers and real students.
• Local trips—including the Toledo Art Museum, Toledo Zoo, Henry Ford Museum, Botanical Gardens, etc.—to learn how teachers can use these resources in their classrooms
• Fall Break intensive field placement experiences in regional communities, including Cincinnati (2009), Cleveland (2010), Chicago (2011), and Detroit (2012)
• Spring Break intensive field placement experience in national urban areas: Newark, NJ, and New York City--visiting the sites and working with Camp Vacamas in four of their after school programs in the Bronx and in Newark.
• Curriculum Nights at Birmingham Elementary where ECCO members create a night of fun test preparation activities for the students and their families to participate in.

2. Community-Building Programs

ECCO also works to develop a sense of community and an understanding of the contexts from which students enter our classrooms.  As such, we require and encourage community participation in the following ways:

• Kohl Hall residence the first semester at BGSU
• Families--each member joins a family, with “big’s” and “little’s”
• Required participation in community events—one social, one service, one professional development each semester (we create at least one of each per month, so members get a choice)
• Monthly social events including Fall Opening Cookout, movie nights, craft nights, Kickball Cookout, and attending school events where we do field placements, including supporting prom, Trick-Or-Trunk, Christmas programs, etc.
• Monthly service events including Relay for Life, Teen Central Spaghetti Dinner Fundraiser, Preview Days and Presidents’ Day recruitment efforts, and canned food drives
• Leadership positions on the PCC Executive Board

3. Educational Programs

ECCO builds a bridge between academics and the real world.  Students in ECCO take all the same classes as every other education majors, but they are able to take context- and community-focused versions of typical courses, and they participate in some of the following specialized courses and professional development opportunities:

• RESC 4700C (Seminar)—a one credit course taken each semester focusing on education issues in one of three specific contexts (urban, rural, or suburban).
• PCC-only classes—where typical courses are reserved for Urban Educators only:
  • BGSU 1000C: Learning to Lead in Education
  • EDHD 2010C: Introduction to Education
  • EDTL 2300C: Introduction to Educational Technology
  • GSW 1110C: Introduction to Academic Writing
  • GSW 1120C: Academic Writing
  • PSYC 1010C: General Psychology
  • EDTL 2020C: Contemporary Perspectives on Teaching in the Middle Grades
• Specialized classes----traditional and special interest courses for members:
  • GEOG 4260C: Urban Geography
  • POPC 1650C: Popular Culture and Media (focusing on teaching and school films)
  • EDTL 4900C: Issues & Trends (Children, Families, and Class in Urban Communities)
• Brownbag luncheons—where faculty, students, and community members engage in discussion and debate on current topics
• Monthly professional development activities--including the following: Violence in the classroom, First Aid and CPR training, Praxis test preparation sessions, Recognizing Child Abuse training, and more