Summertime in Vermont and the Learnin’ is EasySummer is a hot time for continuing education courses in Vermont. Whether it’s the green lawns and beckoning beaches, just ripe for studying, or the long summer days that urge us to renew, stretch, and broaden ourselves a bit, Vermont’s colleges, university, campus centers, and communities are gearing up for a season of enrichment. Since education is such a broad field, and there is so much one can delve into, we decided to hit the topic from three completely different vantage points — adult learner, parent and child, and artisanal. With a full listing of Web sites and course offerings, there’s sure to be something to tempt the lifelong learners among us. Beyond the UniversityThe University of Vermont has a multi-faceted approach to continuing education. No longer just for degree-seeking and matriculated students, UVM’s offerings include online courses, distance courses, and seminars around the state in addition to traditional campus fare. There are courses that cater to educators looking to bolster their training, Vermonters who wish to pick up a hobby, hone business skills, or keep up on current political and economic trends. Courses are open to in-staters, out-of-staters, and distance learners. There really is a smorgasbord of learning opportunities through UVM and the UVM extension. Students are encouraged to register online, where course descriptions, tuition and fees, software requirements, meeting times and locations can be found.  Courses for degree-seeking candidates run $332 per credit hour for Vermont residents and $779 per credit hour for out-of-state students. Online courses run between $59 and $69 per course. Courses include architecture, computers, nature, writing, language, history, and education among many others. No student need be hindered by geographic location, however. UVM, like many other institutions, offers students the chance to attend courses via distance learning sites located in towns throughout Vermont, or online via one-on-one correspondence with the instructor. Some of the most innovative offerings for adult students come from the independent colleges of Vermont who are able to operate beyond the boundaries of a traditional school day or place. Community College of Vermont (CCV) is a Vermont State College with 12 learning sites throughout Vermont. CCV students can choose among a wide selection of courses that are tailored to fit the way adult learners lead their lives. CCV offers liberal arts, technology, career certificates, associate degrees, and much more. Flexible course schedules, many evening and weekend offerings, and a list of practical, engaging courses make CCV a huge hit among Vermont’s adult learners. The Union Institute offers courses to adults on their schedules and according to their needs. Gone are the days of the trenchant, inflexible academic institution. Colleges today recognize that learners come from many walks. The Union Institute is dedicated to serving learners where they live and learn, not just geographically but psychologically, as well. UI “caters to busy adults” by offering individualized instruction that meets the goals of the student who designs an individualized curriculum to meet his or her ultimate goals. Creativity and flexibility are the hallmarks of these colleges. Some, like Johnson State, celebrate the adult learner and even offer “credit for life experience” beyond the walls of the college and its classrooms. Helping Kids LearnSummer learning may be about delving into a child’s issues with education, helping to see how he or she can connect more fully and meaningfully with the educators and curriculum in school. The Stern Center in Williston specializes in identifying learning styles and issues, connecting kids to learning, and enhancing the work of parents, teachers, and students. A Personal AccountWhen I was six, I stormed into my parents’ room with a book and threw it against the wall. “I’m stupid!” I yelled. “I can’t read!” Every child learns differently, and my teacher’s approach wasn’t working for me. My parents brought me to the Stern Center for Language and Learning, a non-profit center founded by Blanche Podhajski, Ph.D. Through an evaluation of how I learned best, followed by individual instruction, I caught up with the first grade reading level in two months. I soon visited the local library so often they made a new rule for me: I couldn’t check out more books than I could carry. Dr. Podhajski founded the Stern Center twenty years ago for children and adults with learning differences. She started by working with individuals who were thought to have learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Podhajski discovered that many of these students were not “disabled.” Some, like me, were “curriculum casualties,” children whose classroom instruction did not match the way they learn. Why Language is HardPodhajski studied speech and language pathology in college, then completed a speech-language fellowship at UVM. In the 70s she worked with preschoolers at the Medical Center Hospital of Vermont who had difficulty with spoken language: articulation, speech and language. A few years later, many of these children returned with reading and writing problems. This posed a fascinating question for Podhajski: “What was going on in these children’s brains that made it so hard for them to deal with language, be it spoken or written?” This question led her to a doctoral degree in learning disabilities at Northwestern University. In 1981, Podhajski went into private practice, evaluating students with learning difficulties. She wanted to create a center for learning, where individuals could discover how they learned and how teachers could best teach them. Podhajski founded her center with a grant from the Bernice and Milton Stern Foundation. The Stern Center addresses literacy from three angles: providing direct service to students through evaluations and instruction, creating professional development programs for teachers, and conducting research. Staff work with 750 students and 1500 teachers a year, mostly from Vermont, New Hampshire, and New York. The Stern Center does not accomplish its goals alone. Partnership is the key: among parents and teachers, the non-profit community, and the community at large, everyone must work together to figure out how to best help children learn. The Stern Center is a place where parents and teachers can come for help, where “the community can really feel like they’re doing something to maximize children’s literacy,” Podhajski says. According to Podhajski, the best resources in public schools are teachers, so we must value them and be sure they receive the best information possible. To that end, Podhajski created one of the Stern Center’s professional development programs, “Time for Teachers,” ten years ago. Although it preceded the federal act, the program relates to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in that it covers the best, research-based practices for teaching reading and is offered live in Vermont and nationally in an online program. The Stern Center also works with the State Department of Education. “Time for Teachers” is being implemented into the state-run “Reading First” (part of NCLB) and “Vermont Reads” programs. Podhajski describes her vision for the future thoughtfully: “This is an exciting time for all of us who care about children’s literacy. My hope is that we won’t become cynical about the political polarization that sometimes happens when people have different ideas about how children should be taught to read. We have learned so much that it’s really a non-debate. We know what children need to learn to read. We need to put our energies into sharing that knowledge with teachers and schools.” Podhajski would like to reach children at much earlier ages: “What we’ve already learned about early brain research,” she says, “has reinforced that the years from zero to five are when the brain is eager to absorb all the information about thinking, language, and books.” Why, she asks, aren’t we looking at children at these early ages, and helping to enrich them so they will be ready to read by the time they get to kindergarten? For more information about the Stern Center for Language and Learning, call 802-878-2332 or 800-544-4863 or visit their Web site at www.sterncenter.org. Scholarships are available. Education for Heart and HandsFinally, summer is the time to enrich oneself and delve into all that is art, passion, and fun. Traditional American arts, like rug hooking, have a long history in this state. One program in particular, the Green Mountain Rug School in Montpelier, has provided an annual program and community for rug hookers, afficianados, and wannabes. Their history in Vermont makes theirs a beloved tradition, now in its 24th year. The Green Mountain Rug School was founded 23 years ago in Randolph Center at the Vermont Technical Institute by Anne Ashworth and Jean Armstrong. Ashworth had been a rug hooker since the 1950s, teaching classes in and around the Boston area. In 1971, she moved to Vermont. Armstrong and Ashworth decided after attending many rug camps, they felt they could do even better. Having been students, they knew what a student of rug making desired. They wanted a place where students could be in a community, completely immersed in their craft and their learning for an entire week. In 1981, GMRS was born. Vermont Technical Institute was the perfect locale because it offered accommodations. Students could live and learn together right on campus. Ashworth continued to hook rugs until the end of her life, but now the torch has passed. Today, the school is run by Ashworth’s daughter, Stephanie Ashworth Krauss, who took over the GMRS in 2001. When her parents moved from Lowell, Mass., to Vermont in 1971, Stephanie “realized she was coming home.” Krauss has been involved since the beginning and she is the next generation carrying on. “I think it is very important that I am in Vermont and I continue on with the rug making tradition,” she says. Students of the Green Mountain Rug School make the trek to Vermont each June to hook rugs with teachers from around the neighborhood and the globe. Vermont is a perfect place for a place like GMRS. The vast extension of community and creativity makes this great state flourish with activity and excitement. Vermont is a place for ideas to bloom. “Vermont is very much a friendly, supportive community,” Krauss says. “I feel that it is important and wonderful of the rug school to be like that — a creative, friendly and supportive community environment.” That’s one reason why GMRS is such a success story. “People want to know their neighbors. I know a great percentage of the students. People share stories of family and work while in classes.” Classes have been very successful in the past few years. Attendance varies from 167 to 260. Since the classes only run two weeks, there are a lot of people who try to attend. Two hundred ten people are already registered for the upcoming sessions in June. The technique of rug hooking is very easy. Using a tool like a crochet hook, you pull hoops of fabric through a backing, sometimes burlap, but most often linen. Although it is a simple technique, you can create almost anything, from
wall hangings, pillows and rugs. “You can do intricate reproductions
of flowers, geometric designs or Grandma Moses folk art,” she says.
The possibilities go on forever. Located in the Morey Hall lounge of the rug school in Montpelier is a fully stocked shop in which you can buy fabrics, dyed wools, hooking supplies and magazine and books to help you along your journey to becoming a rug hooker. The shop is open year-round Wednesday through Saturday, 12-5 p.m. Rug hooking is one of zillions of ways to open your mind and express yourself in Vermont this summer. Whether you grab hooking tools, books, a sketch pad or a mouse pad, take the chance and stretch your mind this summer. Emily Stifler (Stern Center) grew up in Essex, spent the last five years adventuring throughout the West, and is now back in Vermont. Cortney Sturtevant (The Green Mountain Rug Hooking School) is a freelance writer living in Williston. Education LinksLog on for more info on Vermont’s colleges, courses, and university: University of Vermont — learn.uvm.edu/focus/summer/
— for degree-based summer offerings; |