Little feet pass silently in the hall outside the door, while outside the windows rings the raucous sounds of recess. In between, sit six Lakeland University students studying elementary education and taking part of a partnership between the university and the Sheboygan Area School district to create a new immersive experience for these future teachers.

Lakeland and SASD are piloting an immersion school through LU's Cooperative Education program at Wilson Elementary School in Sheboygan. Lakeland students from diverse backgrounds who are interested in teaching learn pedagogical techniques from SASD teachers.

This is the first year the program has been in place and the first class to experience it feels positive it should move forward. Students complete teaching pedagogy in the morning and then experience it first-hand in the afternoons in the classrooms. They also help with lunch duties, recess and hallway transitions. It gives them a better understanding of how the school day ebbs and flows.

Kathy Winter, reading and math interventionist at Wilson, serves as an adjunct professor and teaches a portion of the classes. John Yang associate professor of Education at Lakeland also teaches classes in the program.

The teaching students are in the Wilson Elementary building -- the biggest elementary school in the district -- and host to this innovative program.