The Regional Rural Future Teachers’ Club, part of the CTE Education Career Pathway Grant, held their first event of this school year on September 15th to celebrate International Dot Day. 23 students from Hamilton, West Prairie, and Spoon River Valley gathered at the Ray Peterson Nature Center north of Macomb for an event that showed what collaboration makes possible. Students spent the morning exploring what it means to make their mark as educators.
International Dot Day celebrates creativity, courage, and connection across the globe. The day is inspired by The Dot, a children’s book by Peter Reynolds. This year, a group of students explored that same idea through place-based learning, rooting education in a local context.
The grant team and Natalie Shelley, the naturalist educator, from Macomb Park District collaborated to create this opportunity for regional high school students who are considering education as a career. The nature center provided the perfect location to expose students to a collaborative place-based learning experience. Students rotated through three stations, each offering a different lens on making their mark: Literacy, Creativity, and Story Walk.
Retired teacher and administrator Terri Burnham read The Dot to students as if they were elementary children, asking them to observe her teaching moves. Students watched and practiced the same techniques with their peers, learning how to inspire confidence in young readers.
Natalie Shelley led students in creating their own marks. They painted dots on canvas bags with acrylic paint and signed their creations, taking them home as a reminder that their mark matters. They also created mixed media dots using tempera sticks and bleeding tissue paper, which will be displayed at the club’s next event.
Students reflected on questions such as “Just as Vashti’s courage inspired the next student in the story, what impact might they have on young people they will teach?” Students considered their ripple of influence and the lasting mark they’ll make as educators.
Students were able to celebrate courage, creativity, and connection at Dot Day, leaving with a shifted perspective of their impact on the world. One student captured the value: “I enjoyed meeting people from other schools that I’m taking a dual-credit course with.” Through the grant, students from the partnering schools earn college credit toward an education degree through dual-credit courses. The Regional Rural Future Teachers’ Club brings them together for face-to-face community building.
Another student’s perspective shifted: “I was surprised by how much I enjoyed being here. When I heard we were going to the Nature Center, I didn’t know what to expect, but today was so exciting. I really loved all of the activities and the atmosphere.”
The deepest insight came from a student who began seeing the bigger picture: “Having 3 very different events that all focused around the same story and idea really helped me see how I am going to make my mark as a teacher and how I am already making a mark on the people around me.”
Making a mark is something that most educators strive for when they choose the profession and these students were able to get a glimpse of the possibilities during this event. The grant has provided students access to mentors, experiences, and peers they wouldn’t find at home. Individual rural schools can provide many things, but they often can’t provide a cohort of peers with shared interests, a network of mentors who’ve chosen to teach in rural places, and opportunities that push beyond what a single district can support. The CTE Education Career Pathway Grant is providing regional collaboration and opening those doors.
Throughout the year, students will gather for career exploration events and college visits to Future Teachers’ Days at universities across Illinois. Currently working with four schools, the grant team is exploring ways to expand across the region. For more information about the work being done amongst the partners (Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools, Western Area Career System 265, and Regional Office of Education 26), contact the grant coordinator, Lisa Litchfield, at llitchfield@roe26.net.