• African American Museum of History at Loray Mill
• Crafts For Kids (Black History Month)
• Summer Enrichment Reading List
• Learn about Juneteenth

SPEAKERS

Dr. Mary Stratton, Dot Guthrie, Phil Brach

Phil Brach

Welcome to Conversatio, the Belmont Abbey College podcast. This podcast focuses on formation and transformation so that each of us reflects God’s image in an ever more palatable and transparent way. I’m Phil Brach, vice president of college relations here at the Abbey. And I’m joined today by Dr. Mary Stratton, chair of the Belmont Abbey Education Department. And Dot Guthrie, founder and curator of the African-American Museum of History and Culture in Gastonia.

 

Phil Brach

Together, we will explore educational initiatives at both the college and gas to Gaston County, available to the African-American community. At the outset, before we dove in, I just want to say how close this issue is to my heart. My father was an educator who helped found a college that worked with African-Americans to teach engineering. And I spent time working on a foundation in Chicago that work with inner city kids.

 

Phil Brach

So this these topics and these issues are very close to my heart. And I’m looking forward to this conversation. Dr. Stratton, I’d like to start by setting a framework for the landscape of education today. What do our schools look like today in terms of demographics?

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

Yes. Good morning. My name is Dr. Mary Stratton, and I’m happy to be here. We are here at the Abbey preparing future teachers in the area of literacy, as well as all other subject matter. The importance of today’s conversation is centered on how we are preparing our Belmont Abbey teachers to be teachers that are able to address the diverse needs of today’s students.

So I’d like to take some time to talk a little bit about the changes and the demographics of the American classroom. We’re so blessed in our country today with the vast number of schools available to our children. There are over 90,000 elementary schools and approximately 30,000 secondary schools in the United States. In addition, we have approximately 16,000 schools which are combined elementary secondary schools.

Enrollment in these schools continues to be high in the United States. And the population of children attending these schools has varied greatly over the past ten to 15 years. If we look at some of the statistics collected by the National Center for Educational Statistics, we can see that the documented makeup of our classrooms includes an increase in the number of Hispanic children in growing from 6 million children who were enrolled in 1995 to our current numbers indicating more than 13 million children.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

It is not at all surprising that enrollment in our school includes children from a multiplicity of backgrounds and cultures. The numbers are astounding. We have 23 million white students, 13 million Hispanic students 7 million black students, 2 million Asian students, half a million American Indian Alaskan native students and 0.2 million Pacific Islander students. In addition to the language and culture represented in our classrooms today, children receiving special education services are included in our population of students.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

The number of students receiving special education services reaches reaching 7 million in the last year, more than 3.1% of our school age population technology, virtual learning and the consistent demand for accountability and reporting measures related to standardized testing has now complicated the traditional purity of education pedagogy. This is the synopsis of our classrooms in 2022.

 

Phil Brach

Thank you, Dr. Stratton. I should mention, you know, we’re recording this podcast just on the just after the Martin Luther King holiday on the heels of African-American History Month or Heritage Month. So the reason we’re focusing on some of these special issues around African-Americans and minority education. And can you give us maybe a little bit more detail overview on the mission and vision of the Education Department at the Abbey?

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

So we as a faculty, I are constantly intending to prepare teachers in a way that they possess a strong commitment to all the students that they were serve. They’re taught not only to serve, but also to be advocates for the most vulnerable in our society. The children And we do this by leading as examples to help our teacher candidates understand the responsibilities and privileges that are part of this commitment.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

So this includes a study of the liberal arts, knowledge, skills and dispositions inherent in and in the education courses and also field experience. We develop teacher candidates who are broad and agile and focused on the goal of providing the capacity to make wise and ethical decisions which not only benefit the teacher candidate, but for all those whose lives they will touch.

 

Phil Brach

I think that the formation of teachers probably after the monastery might be the most important vocation we form here at the college. As the father of nine children, aged 22 to five, I see the impact of teachers at every level right now from kindergarten through college, and it really is a wonderful vocation and and critical to our culture and society that working on this, once you give it, can you give us a little bit more detail about what’s the coursework or requirements like for Belmont Abbey student pursuing this vocation?

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

So education preparation is unique in that the requirements for teacher candidates are stringent and overseen by not only Belmont Abbey Education Department, but also the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. So for a teacher candidate to be eligible to even be admitted into the elementary education licensure program, they must pass a basic skill test and attain a cumulative score of the benchmark of four 68 their S.A.T. scores and 80 scores must be meeting a certain benchmark SAT score of 1170 and an ACT score of at least 24.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

Their GPA must remain consistent. Remaining at a minimum of 2.75 no less than a C-minus in any major course, not only at the beginning of the program, but throughout the program. So our actual coursework as far as foundational coursework is outlined in three professional sequences. We have the intro courses which allow students to become acquainted with education, Intro to Education, an introductory course to the exceptional child’s educational development in psychology, and then art 3% professional sequences encompass foundational content knowledge such as curriculum, instruction and design, math foundations, foundations of language arts, and then our methods courses, which not only involve the the student teaching sequence, but also methods of teaching mathematics, methods of teaching literature, methods of science and methods of social studies.

 

Phil Brach

So of course, for that kind of practicum side of it, we need to have a relationship with the local community and especially the local public schools and private schools. In the area. So you could tell my understanding, I don’t know if I have two students of children my own, who are in the Gaston County system, one at South Point and one at Belmont Middle.

 

Phil Brach

And I had heard that upwards to 40% of the student, the teachers in the in the gas system have at least one of their degrees from the Belmont and the college. I don’t know how true that is, but obviously the big impact on the community once. Tell us a little bit about that. The community part of the program.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

So all of our students are expected to complete field work and student teaching. There are multiple avenues in which two students can we can complete the required coursework, and that is always intertwined intertwined with the community partnership and field work. So this is required coursework as part of their foundational subject coursework. They’re teaching methods courses and their educational internship.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

We have expanded our capacity to develop partnerships through personnel throughout the Charlotte Diocese, the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District, Gaston County, Lincolnton County, and the unique partnership which we are highlighting during today’s discussion, which is with the African-American Museum of History and Culture at Lori Mill in Gastonia, North Carolina.

 

Phil Brach

It’s great. February 1st is my two year anniversary here at the Abbey, and I took this job because I fell in love with the Abbey as a place to work. And as I moved here and moved my family here, I have also fallen in love with Gaston County. I think it’s one of the greatest places in the in the country to live.

 

Phil Brach

And one of the things that is so strong is this community and the role the Abbey plays. We see with the hospital this educating people on health care from from high school through nursing. And we’re seeing it in the teaching program, too. And everyone I meet in Gaston County, I’m just incredibly we continue to be overwhelmed. And today is another honor to have met Scott Guthrie and to see just another one of these incredible leaders.

 

Phil Brach

And they come out of this. This is wonderful county. So I’d like to hand it over maybe to the teacher to to yourself and let you and Dr. Guthrie have had a little bit of a conversation now about this important institution here in the museum and the role that the two guys play together.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

So I would like to talk a little bit about Miss Dorothy Guthrie, one of our esteemed community partners. She has fulfilled the roles of author, educated and spiritual mentor, and she has become one of the front runner in experience and background in the area of literacy. Her expertize is extensive, and her career has been filled with prestigious awards, including the Coretta Scott King, Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, which she was awarded in 20, 21.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

So at this point, would you please tell us about your journey in the development and creation of the African-American History and Culture Museum at Lorimer.

 

Dot Guthrie

Yes, I will. Good morning, and thank you for the invitation. I’m very excited to be here to talk about the museum, its mission and purpose. Our mission is to provide our visitors and the greater guest and community with the opportunity to explore, examine, engage and to seek a better understanding and deeper appreciation for the contributions made and the achievements of African-Americans at the local, regional and national levels.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

So is part of our collaboration between the museum and our students at Fairmount Abbey College It was important for Don and I to embrace a common vision, and this vision was most clearly represent to us in the area of literacy. So one of the things that we chose to do was to focus on a quotation that was delivered by Robert Carson.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

The right books in the right hands at the right time can change worlds. So what we’ve done is look to the resources at the museum and discuss ways to utilize the resources to help our future teachers become better. Right to prepare. So would you talk a little bit about the types of resources, specifically that teacher candidates have access to and can explore to further their knowledge?

 

Dot Guthrie

Certainly in the museum, we have a variety of resources to support teacher education, and we are currently developing even more. Right now we have the curriculum and tracts that we’re developing. We have puppetry. We have resources that they will be able to borrow as well as using the classroom. And they are applied to North Carolina educational standards. We know that that’s critical because when classroom teachers are in their classrooms, they are held accountable for teaching standards.

 

Dot Guthrie

And we want to embed whatever resources that we have that are applicable to those standards so that we will all be on one page when it comes to support and partnership with Belmont Abbey College.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

So are you able to discuss a piece of literature that you feel embodies the message that all teachers and students must hear and understand why, when you think about this piece of literature, is it so important? And what about it elicits emotion and passion from within you as not only an educator, but as an individual with a multitude of real life experiences.

 

Dot Guthrie

Real life experiences, Many, many years ago, I had the great honor of Meet in Ruby Bridges at one of the Coretta Scott King book awards breakfasts in Chicago. And at that time she received a standing ovation from us because of her work, our determination and perseverance. So Ruby Bridges would be a character, a biography that we would encourage our young people to use, because we know that Ruby Bridges marched into that school, into that classroom.

 

Dot Guthrie

She had one friend there, and that was MS. Henry. MS. Henry taught Ruby. Ruby taught MS. Henry. Ruby taught MS. Henry how to persevere. MS. Henry taught Ruby the academic. So it means a lot to me for us to be able to share literature because it provides the Biblio therapy that many of our children need And it develops as well as spotlights, social, emotional learning.

 

Dot Guthrie

And I’m going to tell you that when we share such literature with our young people, we can empower them. We can share the songs that they were determined to sing many, many, many years ago. During the early boycotts. And all one comes to mind right now. I ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around. Turn me around. Turn me around.

 

Dot Guthrie

Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around. I’m gonna keep on walkin. Keep on talking. Marching into freedom’s land. And when we share the literature with the children, we change mindset, growth mindset from a fixed mindset to a positive mindset.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

Thank you. That was beautiful. So as as we move together in the shared responsibility and partnership that what does a say in getting the right book in the right hands at the right time will change the world mean to you?

 

Dot Guthrie

Right now, it means that with the many challenges that our young people are facing, now, many of them due to the health challenges, the right book into the right hands, right student, the right time means if that child feels like he or she cannot achieve. Let’s give them a book. Remember I talked about biblical therapy. Let’s give them a book that will enhance their self-esteem.

 

Dot Guthrie

There is a book call Milo’s Journey, and Milo was a student whose teacher took them on a field trip. They went to the museum. And when Milo got to the museum, Milo discover that something was wrong. Milo could not identify anything in the museum related to the culture. So that’s why it’s important for us to create that museum, to make that museum the best piece of literature.

 

Dot Guthrie

Not only it’s a textbook for many children, some to develop a greater appreciation for self awareness, others to develop an appreciation for diversity.

 

Phil Brach

Not your magic wand. To tell a quick personal story about that relates to this. You know, I grew up with dyslexia. So, so reading was extremely difficult for me. And but my sophomore year in high school, we were given Ralph Ellison the invisible man. And as tough as it was to read, for some reason, I struggled through that book.

 

Phil Brach

You most books, I cheated on the CliffsNotes. I would read the first. I could even struggle to them. I’d read the first half in the second half. I must have written some really funny book reports from my teacher perspective. But I got through that book and one of the most important books of my life. I think it because I related that the the loneliness and the feelings that I was having being this kid with dyslexia who couldn’t read.

 

Phil Brach

I had this connection with Ralph Ellison and what he was struggling with it because of race and what he was going through. So, yeah, it just really just struck me to tell you that that is so impactful, that right book in the right hands at the right time.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

So one of the wonderful things that is occurred and just occurred this past week was our students from the literacy and assessment class here at Belmont Abbey participated in the week long celebration of the Dr. Martin Luther King Week, which was January 17, through the 21st in a portion of this week long celebration we focused our class participation on different pieces of literature that were awarded.

 

Dr. Mary Stratton

At some point, the Coretta Scott King Award Dad, would you talk about how the students at Belmont Abbey were involved in this wonderful celebration?

 

Dot Guthrie

I am so happy to have the opportunity to say that we enjoyed on Wednesday evening three great presentations presented by your students. And of course, I was happy to know that they were well-prepared. They had done their pre-reading research, they presented the book, and afterwards they shared their thoughts and our opinions. And one of the books, Too Many Koans or something related to that particular title, shared with the student that presented the book that right here in Belmont was long ago a building construct dirt named Jethro, a man who had a bicycle written program for the little children, the young children who could not afford a bicycle well, he would recycle old bicycles and let the

 

Dot Guthrie

children come after school to send out a bicycle, ride the bicycle and return the bicycle before they went home, which shows how books can be related to the particular culture or geographic area. Right here in Belmont. Another book, The Rough Side of the Mountain by Julia Neal Sites. That’s a history of Belmont, but yet our children, many of them are not aware of the literature that can be shared with them to be aligned with the standard course of study.

 

Dot Guthrie

So when we heard the rap, a tap tap Bill Bojangles Robinson, we could go to that biography and that would be an extended opportunity for our students. So there are so many wonderful things that your students shared with our viewers last Wednesday that will eventually end up as one of the lesson plans that we will present from the museum’s perspective.

 

Phil Brach

Zinnias before we close out here and not to, you know, hear if there’s any other details you can tell us about the African-American Museum. I know it’s been a tough time for any type of public space. You know, but my my family and I, we’ve tried several times to get into the National Museum of African-American History in Cincinnati.

 

Phil Brach

And Washington is always about a six month wait. So I’m glad to hear there’s something maybe we can get into. And here, once you get a little more detailed about the museum and.

 

Dot Guthrie

Thank you for the opportunity, we will we have a telephone number listed on our website. And if we have families or groups that would like to visit the museum, we will accommodate them. I don’t mind doing that for any resident of Gaston County. And on Sunday afternoon, we are going to unveil a historic a historic quilt that features African-American business pioneers of long ago, because we know that our young people now need to have those financial literacy skills.

 

Dot Guthrie

And we have been working with the Gaston Business Association to develop this quilt. And each quilt square will have a lesson plan that will be used. I can be used. The quilt can also be borrowed by Belmont Abbey College and displayed here on your campus with the quilt guide to accompany the quilt. The visual literacy is there.

 

Phil Brach

Thank you, Will. Definitely you have to get that on the campus. Reviewing wise. Want to give a hearty thank you to to to Dr. Stratton and and Mrs. Guthrie for spending some time with us here today on these important topics. At this at this important time of the year. And thank you again.

 

Dot Guthrie

Thank you. Thank you.

 

Phil Brach

I’m so thrilled to have had both you here today. And I’m grateful for all you’re doing here in Gaston County. I also want to thank our audience for joining us. If you enjoy Conversatio please subscribe and tell your friends Conversatio is available through Spotify, Google Podcasts, and until next time. God bless.