Few UCLA college students know they share their campus with
elementary school students, but on Sept. 9 425 miniature pupils
were already back to school.
One hundred and twenty years after its creation, the Seeds
University Elementary School started the year with its seventh
principal on the UCLA campus, Donna Elder, Ph.D.
UES was founded by the Los Angeles Library in 1882 as a teacher
training school. In 1947 it was moved to its current location,
sandwiched between Sunset Boulevard, the Anderson School and
Chancellor Albert Carnesale’s residence.
Today, the school continues its original mission ““ to
improve the teaching methods used throughout California and the
nation.
Elder knows just how important that history is to UES’s
mission.
“At UES certain threads have maintained themselves over
its 120 year history … the threads are important because they
give UES a basic philosophy — no matter who is at the
school,” said Elder.
She added, “The best things about UES are the community,
the teachers, the staff and the parents ““Â its just a
wonderful community of people who come together to learn. …
Extraordinary learning is going on in the classrooms.”
In addition to the new principal, UES has four new teachers for
the 2002 school year. Angelica Sandoval, one of the new teachers,
said working at UES is quite different than working at other
schools.
“We don’t have to teach every subject area ““
we work in teams, not individually,” she said.
Although she was familiar with team teaching methods, she said
teaching at UES simply feels different.
“You feel like you are in a partnership”.
UES can also be a unique experience for students. For years, UES
has tried to scientifically emulate an average California
school.
“We try to have balance among ethnic and socioeconomic
groups so that the school reflects California demographics. UES is
like a mini-California,” said Elder.
According to the school’s online Statement of Philosophy,
UES “creates for children a learning environment rich in
real-world experiences and thought-provoking activities to help
children develop the ability to think creatively and use and
evaluate a variety of sources of information.”
“The “˜developmental curriculum’ picks the
students up from where they are and moves them along at a pace they
can handle,” said UES teacher Kevin North
Because it is a research institution, various teaching
techniques are tried at UES. As the students and state expectations
change, new methods are invented to keep up.
In practice some of these teaching methods are eventually
incorporated into the curriculum at UES to become a permanent
“thread” in the school’s history.
For example, almost all UES classrooms contain students of
multiple ages. Within classrooms, students are sub-divided based on
their individual skills — younger students have a chance to excel
and older students who need extra help are given a chance to catch
up.
UES also strives to develop relationships of respect, Sandoval
said.
“If you treat (students) like knowledgeable beings, they
will behave like knowledgeable beings,” Sandoval said.
One program based on this premise is called Safe Schools and is
designed to help students problem solve their way out of conflicts.
According to Elder, students are “given a common
language” which they can use to express their feelings.
Ultimately, the most successful innovations are taught to other
teachers through an extensive school outreach program. UES teachers
are called “demonstration teachers” because in addition
to teaching their young students they have the responsibility of
updating other educators about new teaching practices.
As a program of the UCLA Graduate School of Education &
Information Studies, UES also offers several hands-on opportunities
for UCLA students.
For undergraduate students, course 193F is listed as a teaching
internship at UES. Working under demonstration teachers and
Professor Frederick Erickson, UCLA students have a chance to spend
time in classrooms and gain credit toward their degrees.