Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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Home Sweet Home by Marianne Caltabiana Black doors. Cork lined mlnature rooms. No windows. Pressor 11 all. The ringing of piano keys. The plucking of a stringed instrument. Brass, woodwind and percussion reverberate. Do. re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do. The College of Music. Take a building called Presser Hall, add faculty, students and instruments, and an immediate metamorphosis occurs, changing the mazelike building into a home—a home for the College of Music. It is rather unusual to refer to a university building as a home, but the homey quality of the College of Music is a strange and subtle phenomenon, evident only to music students. As a freshman, I did not immediately experience the warmth which the College of Music possesses. I was petrified. Students walked from class to class singing tunes from operas, passages from symphonies and the like. It seemed like a farce; a school for egotistical hams. Even though I enjoyed and loved music. I saw no reason to be so eccentric about it. Music was all the students seemed to live for and talk about. They seemed to be narrow-minded and shallow. Gradually, during my freshman year, I began to appreciate and understand the music students. They were involved in events outside of the College of Music. Some had diversified interests and were very active in the university. What had seemed before to be a clique, now appeared to be a bond, a unifying interest. This was made apparent through the actions of the faculty, through choral activities, and through my peers. It was a contagious spirit, which entailed only one prerequisite: a love for music. Their dedication to music does unite the music students. We all are in competition with one another, but no matter who comes out first, whoever gets that one particular solo, there exists a respect for one another as musicians. The students at the College of Music all have the same basic ideal—to present music as a beautiful and enjoyable aesthetic experience. The fulfillment of this ideal was the climax of my involvement with the College of Music. After personally enjoying all the l enefits of my home in Presser Hall, after combating my failures and feeling the exuberant happiness from my slightest musical success, I could bring this excitement to others. My first teaching experience was such an event. Just a small scale project-teaching music two hours a week at the William Dick School. Here I felt the power of music. I communicated with first graders in such a way that they clapped, danced, sang, smiled and said 'Thank you . I felt the spirit that I Teamed at the College of Music and shared it with the children. J6

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and a Possible Solution by Karen Edelman and Karen Weiner E.P.I.C.T. What is it? It may just l e a conglomeration of letters to you, but to two hundred elementary education majors and hundreds of elementary school pupils, it’s a new learning experience. It stands for the Elementary Program for Inner City Teaching. This program enables a student to learn to teach elementary school by experience rather than book-learning. While the ordinary' elementary education majors arc writing lesson plans for their teachers to read, the E.P.I.C.T. students are writing lesson plans to be used the next day. Every Tuesday and Thursday Temple juniors and seniors “eagerly pounce on Temple area kiddies. These future teachers and the innocent children of the neighborhood profit from a two-way learning experience. E.P.I.C.T. students take their method courses (the courses that are supposed to teach them how to teach) at the public schools. They meet once a week for three hours. Classes usually consist of two hours of discussion-lectures which are small and informal. The remaining hour is used to experience teaching first hand. Two students are assigned to a classroom. Some Temple instructors designate how many children each E.P.I.C.T. student should teach. Others allow their students to choose from team teaching, tutoring, small group work, full class teaching, or a combination of these. Occasionally the cooperating public school teacher works with his own group of students, observes the E.P.I.C.T. students’ attempts at teaching, or uses the hour as free time. While the traditional elementary education students come to class prepared for an hour of lecture or discussion, the E.P.I.C.T. students never know wnat unique experiences are in store for them. Here are some experiences that these future teachers had. One rainy morning two over-anxious E.P.I.C.T. students jumped off the bus at the sight of a school. They knew the ride was short; so as soon as they saw a school, they departed. Since this was their first day at school they didn't realize that there were three schools within three blocks. They didn’t lx»ther to look at the name over the door. After waiting fifteen minutes for the school secretary to return to tell them where they should go. they realized that their classmates should have arrived already. Suspiciously, they looked around the office for an indication of what school they were in. When they finally arrived at the right school (a converted factory) they found that the freight elevator had been condemned. They were informed that they had to climb six flights of stairs. When they finally found their classroom, they discovered that their assignment for next week consisted of writing a lesson on pendulums for a fourth grade class. All the way home they tried to think of what, if anything, they knew about pendulums and how they could make it sound exciting. The next week, armed with pendulums made out of rulers, washers and kite string, they entered their classroom onlv to be informed that their cooperating public school teacher was absent. Upon seeing our heroines, the substitute teacher fled, leaving the room in turmoil. The E.P.I.C.T. girls quickly discovered that the way to handle the class was for one to try to teach while the other tried to keep the children in their seats. The lesson, which took five hours to plan, took only fifteen minutes to teach. Somehow they had to make it last an hour. In a nearby classroom, another E.P.I.C.T. duo were trying to convince the frantic teachers running into their room that the smoke pouring into the hall was only caused by overcooked popcorn. Many of their lessons were far from perfect, but they learned from these experiences much more than a teacher or book could teach them. In spite of their lack of experience and knowledge, many lessons turned into rewarding experiences where the children were able to relate to the future teachers. What is more satisfying than having a shy child express herself for the first time in your group or a ten-vear-old bov invite you to his birthday party? The students in E.P.I.C.T. feel that it is one of the best methods to leam the “art of teaching.’ But are am of them really ready for a class of their own?

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social administration, views on; by Joanne Wolfe After announcing my major, the first question people usually ask is, What is the difference between sociology and social welfare? ’ I usually begin my explanation by answering that social welfare is more applied and less theoretical. Our course content draws heavily from the fields of economics, political science, psychology, and sociology, as well as from our own core of unique knowledge. We also have the opportunity to test and utilize what we learn in the classroom in a held placement during our sophomore and senior years. 1 spend the next part of our conversation destroying the picture they have often constructed of the do-gooder student playing games with the children who live across the street from Temple. Of course, some students have placements in ghetto community centers. But social work does not limit itself to children, blacks, or the poor; some of us work in medical and psychiatric settings, while others do their field practice in community development, rehabilitation. recreation, or counselling. Field placements are important to us—through them we determine whether or not we are fitted to work in medical and psychiatric and other human services. Reflecting on our pasts and analyzing our present group participation, we Spend many moments in introspection. We must tap both heart and mind. But it’s difficult to explain . . . the excitement of our first T-group, the anxiety over our ability as a group leader, and our uncertainty jbout our potential as helping persons. Our exploration of the social work profession only uncovers greater dilemmas; the paradox of the establishment worker simultaneously lighting and maintaining the establishment, the question of change within or outside the agency, and the issue of personal committment and risk. There are no answers, only personal decisions. Some will choose to help individuals develop ‘coping mechanisms, others will direct their energies into social planning and policy. However we will all continue to wrestle with these problems. There is another lighter dimension of our program which entices many to ns. We arc small. There are 350 of us in the undergraduate Social Welfare Program in the School of Social Administration. We are growing rapidly and envision a more specialized program in the future, similar to the School of Education, in which students will receive a practice degree. However, our classes remain small and personal, a rather unique claim for any department at Temple. Our newly formed Social Welfare Student Union has facilitated student-faculty socializing, as well as channels for grievances, and student representation at departmental meetings. v