DIANE CHRISTOPHER

Euro-Americans and Quilts

There is a strong sense of community in my classroom and compassion for others. I like students to work together, to share ideas, to move freely around the room, to do hands-on activities, and to communicate with each other. In this project my students were very self-directed. They learned much about the cultural heritage of their grandparents. They appreciated the cultural differences in our classroom and came to realize that each culture tells a special and unique story.

Diane Christopher, Valley City, Ohio

Diane is a fourth-grade teacher at Liverpool Elementary School in the Buckeye School District located in Valley City, Ohio. A sign, declaring Valley City as the “Frog Jumping Capital of Ohio,” greets visitors to this quiet Midwestern town rich in history Fertile farmland and salt springs attracted the first settlers, mostly of German descent, to the area about 200 years ago. Established about 100 years ago, Liverpool Elementary School educates about 400 children in preschool through sixth grade. Only about 10% of the students receive free or reduced lunches. Parental involvement in the school is strong. Many grandparents still live in the locality, and their involvement is commendable.

Every spring, fourth-grade students in Ohio are required to take a state proficiency exam in mathematics. To prepare for this high-stakes test, teachers typically “cover” all the mathematics concepts and terms the students will meet on the test. In preparation for the test, Diane had already introduced the mathematics topics of this unit to her students earlier in the school year, but she wasn’t satisfied:

I wasn’t convinced that my students had deep understanding or could apply their knowledge following this hurried and brief exposure. I wanted to make the topic relevant to the students. That’s when I decided to revisit the geometry unit and combine it with our social studies unit on Ohio history in a quilt project.

Diane’s profile was written by Kathrine Owens (second author of first edition) and revised by Yvelyne Germain-McCarthy.

Diane’s 21 students (11 girls and 10 boys) are typical of the makeup of the school. Two students are identified as gifted/talented, seven students received tutoring in mathematics, and 100% are Euro-American. Until Diane asked her students to find out their ancestors’ countries of origin, she assumed they were mostly German, Czechoslovakian, and Polish. To her surprise, the students reported that their ancestors came from 13 different countries in all. About half of her students have grandparents who occasionally speak a language other than English. Most of the families in Valley City have lived in the area for several generations. According to Diane, the area is undergoing change:

We have a lot of new families coming here from the city to the country With a great many people moving into the area, it is a real growing area with a need for new schools. Many longtime residents are fearful of change and of seeing their familiar school building supplanted by larger, more modern buildings constructed outside of the town boundaries.