UTC students make sure Skyuka Hall students know the proper way to hold onto bicycle handlebars.
Derek Butler reaches into a paper grocery sack, pulls out three eggs and tells the three middle-school boys standing in front of him to take one each. He puts a towel under the paper sack, then holds out his own egg.
“This represents what happens when you get in an accident and you’re not wearing a helmet,” he says. “I want you to take the egg and drop it in the bag.”
The boys’ eyes widen and slightly suspicious smiles split their faces, but one by one they step up to the bag, hold the egg a foot or so over it and bombs away. You can imagine what happens.
“That’s what your head would look like,” Butler says.
He is one of 15 UTC students who, for the last five weeks, have come every Tuesday to Skyuka Hall, a private school for kids with learning differences such as ADHD, dyslexia and autism. During two hours in the school’s gym, the UTC students teach the schoolkids about bike and pedestrian safety.
“I love it. I’d rather be here than sitting in a classroom,” Butler says after the class ends. “You can write lesson plans all day long and do homework that the professor gives you, but field experience and hands-on is how we learn the best.”
There aren’t any actual bikes, but the kids are shown how to put on a bike helmet and the proper arm signals to use when bike riding. They’re taught the laws for both bike riders and pedestrians. Using photos, kids learn to recognize signs for “Stop” and “School Crossing” and “Yield” and what to do if you see one.
They also are asked such questions as: Which side of the road should a bike rider or a pedestrian walker be? (Bikes on the right, following traffic; pedestrians on the left, facing traffic.) Should a cyclist should only look straight ahead when crossing an intersection? (No, the cyclist should look in all four directions before proceeding).
Butler asks his group if it’s safe for two people to ride on a bike if one is on the handlebars.
“No!” the students all say immediately.
“What if it’s a really big set of handlebars?’ Derke asks
“Then yes!” answers one of the boys.
“Uh, no, not really,” Butler replies.
Like many of the UTC students who come to Skyuka Hall, Butler is majoring in health and human performance and says he hopes to land a full-time job in physical education and even be a football coach. Working with schoolkids is a pleasure, he says.
“As in any work, if you know how to put it on paper but don’t know how to apply it, you’re not going to do well.”
Skyuka Hall Principal Lori Bowman says her kids “love it” when the UTC come to teach.
“It’s beneficial to our kids,” she says. “These are things they may not have even been exposed to. This is important information for them that they probably cannot hear enough times. We welcome any kind of education that broadens their knowledge in day-to-day things.”
The UTC students are in Jamie Harvey’s practicum for the Strategies in Teaching Physical Education course and coming to Skyuka Hall is a partnership between UTC and Outdoor Chattanooga. Associate professor in health and physical education, Harvey says the UTC students get a host of lessons by teaching the schoolkids.
“They’re creating lesson plans, that’s the knowledge base. They’re adapting to working with each other, with colleagues, other teachers and children,” she says.
It’s also a good chance to decide whether they fit into a teaching career, she adds.
“It’s, ‘Hmm, so this is what it takes. I might change my major,’ or it’s ‘Oh my goodness, this is fun.’”
Junior Erica Godbehere has no doubt that teaching physical education in elementary school is her dream career. Being at Skyuka Hall has cemented that belief, she says.
“This is the best thing I get,” she says. “It’s really fun because I’m getting to learn. We haven’t worked with students quite like this before, and so it’s challenging in that aspect.
“We’re having to learn how to work with a different type of student as opposed to the ones that just sit and listen. You have to see how they want to learn and work with them. They don’t work with you, you work with them.”
