tanding by the blackboard, paper in hand, Libby Guldin ’09 recites the poem, “The Marvelous Homework and Housework Machine” as 31 fourth graders, 17 of them Spanish speaking, read along.

“Attention all students! Attention all kids!
Hold on to your horses! Hold on to your lids!
We have just exactly the thing that you need
Whenever you’ve way too much homework to read.
The Marvelous Homework and Housework Machine
will always make sure that your bedroom is clean.
It loves to write book reports ten pages long,
Then put all your toys away where they belong.”

After the fifth stanza, fourth-grade teacher Chris Dewar tells her class to think about the poem. “Are you visualizing the machine?” she asks her students. “Share with your partner how you see the machine.”

Albright education faculty Susan Seidenstricker, Ed.D., and Margaret Place quietly observe the co-teaching method being used by Guldin and Dewar. Seidenstricker and Place are two of four Albright education faculty who are teaching Reading school teachers about various co-teaching methods.

The program, a partnership between Albright and 13th & Union Elementary School, is funded by a $63,000 grant from the Wachovia Foundation. Its goal is to help improve the learning of special needs and non-English-speaking students in grades three, four and five through inclusion and the use of co-teaching methods. Albright education faculty Bonnie Hamwi, Ph.D., and Rodney Warfield, Ed.D., are also working as co-teachers in the program.

Seidenstricker says the program is providing learning opportunities for all participants—college faculty, public school teachers, Albright education students and 13th & Union elementary students. “We are helping them [teachers and students at 13th & Union Elementary], but they are also helping us. This kind of project helps teacher educators keep the combination of research and professional development linked to the realities of public education,” she says.

“It helps us stay fresh and keeps our skills current,” adds Place, who works with students in math.

Dewar initiated the program, aimed at creating inclusive classrooms, after 2006-07 state assessment results revealed that 44 percent of third-fourth-and fifth-grade students at the elementary school scored at the basic or below-basic level. Of the Hispanic population, half scored at basic or below-basic levels, and of special needs students, nearly 80 percent were at the basic or below-basic levels.

“I want to always do what’s best for my students,” says Dewar. “Working with Albright to learn best practices is one way to do that.”

For first-year teacher Mike Trymbiski ’07, the program’s benefits are many. Trymbiski, who has certifications in elementary and special education, teaches fourth-graders, several of whom have special needs. Co-teaching with Warfield, he’s not only able to provide more one-on-one time to students who need that individual time, but he’s also gaining invaluable advice.

“My big issue,” Trymbiski says, “is classroom management. If you don’t have control in the classroom you can’t teach.” Warfield is helping Trymbiski deal with classroom control issues by using the tone of his voice properly and at the right time. He has also suggested a variety of management techniques.

“The man is amazing,” Trymbiski says. “He never raises his voice but he always has control in the classroom.”

Inclusion, which has been strongly debated among educators, parents and student advocacy groups, ensures that children with disabilities are educated alongside their non-disabled peers to the maximum extent possible. Known as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, the law was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1975. The law was re-enacted as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990.

Place says children with special needs benefit greatly by being in the classroom with other youngsters. “It avoids isolation,” she says. But Seidenstricker says some educators resist the practice. “It requires a lot of planning,” she says. “You can’t teach to the middle. You have to teach to all of the students.” Co-teaching helps accomplish just that.

The partnership is also a great experience for Albright students like Guldin who wish to pursue careers as teachers. Guldin, an elementary education and history major, is in Albright’s 4+1 education program, which allows students to earn both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in five years As part of her literacy practicum she works at the elementary school in the morning, four days a week. Learning how to accommodate the needs of all the students and keep them focused and interested at the same time has been her biggest challenge. “You have to make sure that all of the students are involved, learning and having fun at the same time,” she says.

One of the ways to do that is by using exercises that get students thinking, writing and talking. When asked to quietly read a book and then write about the story in their journal, students chose stories from Pokémon and Indiana Jones to Red Riding Hood and Creepy Crawlies. And, both English-speaking and non-English-speaking students scribbled furiously in their journals. When asked to share, “Drew” volunteered to read the letter he wrote to SpongeBob SquarePants about his book on basketball. As his smile grew with each word, one could see the pride pouring from within.

Exercises like this and the “Homework” poem help greatly with improving language skills, says Guldin, who is also learning how to work with students who don’t speak English. “We’re able to communicate with hand gestures, pictures…they’re great kids. They just have trouble with the language, but they’re learning.”

Now in its second year, the relationship between Albright and 13th & Union is showing promising results in test scores, with 50 percent growth in overall reading performance and gains in proficiency on reading and math compared to other Reading fourth-graders. And students in Dewar’s class continue to make progress, she says.

Dorothea Miller, principal of 13th & Union Elementary, says, “The partnership has provided us with a wealth of good educational practice: in-servicing for the teachers, materials for the students, and classroom and book studies for the faculty who are involved.”

“It has raised our relationship to a level that makes many things possible in the future,” says Seidenstricker.

Albright education faculty and their 13th & Union partners will share the project with colleagues at the National Association for Professional Development Schools Conference in Daytona Beach, Fla., in March.