Communication school partners with elementary magnet

By Amy Geiszler-Jones

The Elliott School of Communication is partnering with Wichita’s Price-Harris Communications Magnet to help develop the elementary school’s communication curriculum.

The communication curriculum is being revamped to include a heavier emphasis on media. Each grade level at the school, which has two campuses, will focus on a different area of communication. For example, in kindergarten the focus will be on exploring the various ways of communicating. Subsequent grade levels will focus on radio with first-graders running a school radio station, the print medium including books, newspaper, television and computer technology.

Principal Diane Seals says when the school and its site council, which is a community advisory group, realized its teachers didn’t have the communications expertise for revamping the communication component of the curriculum, the school and council explored forming partnerships with media and the Elliott School.

On Feb. 15, Elliott School faculty hosted the faculty from Price-Harris Communications Magnet for a luncheon and tour of WSU’s Elliott Hall, which houses the Elliott School of Communication. The two faculties discussed the communication curriculum development and a summer workshop that will be offered by WSU for the elementary school’s teachers. The two-credit workshop will be offered for free to the teachers, with tuition being covered by the Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Elliott School and Price-Harris.

The Elliott School is also working with other area schools. It plans to offer a summer communications camp to students from Alcott, Marshall and Hamilton middle schools and North and West high schools in Wichita, according to Elliott School director Shirley Staples Carter.