Cross-Age Teaching: Decorah high school students helping students eat healthier

Not too long ago, a group of second grade students in Decorah could not answer the following question: "What sound does the animal make, that gives us hamburger?"

It may be hard to believe this could happen in a town surrounded by farms and rooted in rural cultural traditions; but it's a measure of how far people -- even people living in largely rural areas -- have moved away from knowing the sources of the food they eat.

That's changing, though -- thanks to the efforts of an organization committed to bringing, in essence, the farm back to the schools.

Farm to School
Farm to School is a national program, involving over 2,000 schools across the country, that aims to connect children with their agricultural roots and provide healthier meals and nutrition education.

Nationally, each Farm to School chapter typically represents one district. Northeast Iowa's chapter, though, is unique – in that it involves six counties and more than 27 school districts. NE Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative (FFI) joined the effort in 2009, and the NE Iowa Farm to School chapter is coordinated by a team consisting of representatives from ISU Extension, Luther College and the Pepperfield Project -- a non-profit organization based in rural Decorah and founded by David Cavagnaro that works to promote and teach hands-on cooking, gardening and agrarian life skills.

Cross-age teaching
Flannery Cerbin, of Decorah, is communications liaison with FFI and says one aspect of the Northeast Iowa Farm to School chapter drawing a lot of national interest is its use of cross-age teaching – where high school youth are engaged as educators.

After attending a day-long training offered by ISU Extension involving the stages of youth development and the benefit of local foods, high school students visit elementary schools and give monthly lessons about a local food based on folios created by ISU Extension and FFI Americorps members.

According to FFI's Farm to School annual report for 2009-10, the first cycle of folios included popcorn, cheese, pork, leafy greens -- and a comparison of greenhouse tomatoes with tomatoes that had been shipped in.

"Students held the tomatoes next to each other and examined them closely," Cerbin says. "They're encouraged to look and touch and use their senses."

The folios include(d) historical information about the product and how it is  grown or raised in Iowa, the annual report notes. They also include short activities for the students and a  script for the cross-age teachers to use in the classrooms.

The cross-age teaching model was inspired and developed by Extension's successful 4-H program; and adults who work with the young teachers have noticed  effects on them that are similar to the effects of participating in 4-H.

Increased confidence, for example.

The elementary school kids really look up to the older students; they're the ‘cool ones,'" Cerbin says. "In one school, they call them ‘the healthy kids' -- and say things like, ‘the healthy kids are coming to teach us a lesson' ... The high school students gain a lot of self-confidence and learn something about how to teach," she says.

Additionally, Gina Holthaus -- a health and fitness instructor at Decorah Community Schools and one of the initiators of the Decorah School Wellness Team -- sees positive effects among the younger kids.

The lessons are "followed by the opportunity for the younger students to taste the food they are learning about, which is one of the favorite parts of the lesson," she says. "The willingness to try new things by the elementary students has been really fun."

Behind the scenes
The cross-age teaching program requires a lot of energy and input behind the scenes, Holthaus says, and notes, in particular, the work of school staff.

"The Decorah food service staff has been very generous with its assistance," she says. "The high school kitchen staff has been willing to help ‘prep' the foods; without their help, this wouldn't be possible."
Also key to the program's success are the people who create the folio format (Teresa Wiemerslage, of ISU Extension) and lessons,  connecting them to the Iowa Core Curriculum standards (Rachel Sandhorst, of Luther College); who make connections with farmers supplying produce, and facilitate ordering (Johnice Cross, of GROWN Locally, an area farmers' cooperative); who help with delivery; who coach the cross-age teachers -- along with the elementary school teachers who welcome the young educators into their classrooms and help them engage the students.

"It's a team effort," says Stephanie Conant, a Luther College graduate and AmeriCorps Farm to School intern for FFI, who works with the entire team to get things done behind the scenes.

"But that's what makes it so beautiful and so much fun."

Toward a healthy future
"I got interested in working for the Food and Fitness Initiative because I love food," says Conant, whose one-year position ends Aug. 1.

"I feel happier when I eat fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grain bread. I want this for everyone, or at least the opportunity to be exposed to different types of whole foods."

Conant says she feels privileged to be working with people who share her desire to help young people "build strong bodies, minds, character and confidence at the elementary and high school level" -- particularly the teachers, for whom such an effort goes beyond the call of regular duty.

"They are an inspiring group of individuals," she says. "It takes extra work on their part to (participate in) a cross-age teaching program. However, they do it anyway, for their students."

The cross-age teaching program empowers students to think about and make choices which will affect their health and local economy now and in the future, Conant says.

"In an age when health has the attention of the nation, and kids are not supposed to live as long as their parents, I think it's important that students learn about how food is grown, and where it comes from, and how it helps us grow."

The Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative is one of nine national sites funded by the WK Kellogg Foundation Food and Community Program.

The project also is funded by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Northeast Iowa Funder's Network, which funds the cross-age teaching local food folios.

By Julie Berg-Raymond, www.decorahnewspapers.com, 3/4/11.