Three Cooper teachers revive love for teaching
Although their passion for education never disappeared, some Cooper Elementary teachers were ready to reignite the fire that fueled their early career. Three of them found a way to do that, thanks to a book written by fellow educators called “The Wild Card.”
Authors Hope and Wade King will be in Bentonville in June to introduce their concept to even more teachers. Rachel Welch, Julie Gladden and Diane Snieski are looking forward to the training, but they’ve already been using the Kings’ techniques at Cooper Elementary.
The idea, Welch said, is to keep kids rigorously engaged, and that means the teacher has to tap her own creativity. When students are truly engaged, they want to come to school and they want to learn.
In some cases, that means sharing your own passion with your students, Gladden said.
One of the “Wild Card” authors uses music. He rewrites the lyrics of popular songs and sings them for his students. Hope King uses her love of crafts to effect “room transformations.”
Gladden and Snieski are second-grade teachers who work together with two classes of students. They developed a twoweek unit that crossed curriculum boundaries to incorporate science, language arts and math. They did it with a worm farm.
Each table in Gladden’s room had a mini-worm habitat in the middle, so students could observe the worms all day. She added some unusual decor, including “dirt” that went halfway up the walls and “grass” hanging in the doorway. Students and worms alike worked underground for the project.
They kept a journal for the entire two weeks, and Gladden saw some of their best writing inside. They didn’t have to be told to write in full sentences since they were engaged by the subject.
There were two different types of worms in the classroom — regular earthworms and red wrigglers. The students studied the characteristics of each type and took them out to be measured.
Some of the students didn’t want to handle the worms at first but, by the end of the two-week unit, they loved holding them. When they released the worms into the Cooper garden plot in the community garden, some of the students kissed their worm goodbye, Snieski said. By then each of the worms had been named.
Both teachers dressed up for the end of the unit, and Miss Petunia and Trudy Sunflower were big hits.
“They love it,” Gladden said of the teachers wearing costumes to school.
Third-grade teacher Rachel Welch took a different approach. She planned a two-week camping trip that took place in her room during the school day. The kids didn’t stay overnight, she explained.
They came to school on a Monday and found their classroom had been transformed into a campground. The bookcases had become boulders and a waterfall. There were pine trees (the school’s artificial Christmas trees) all around the room and a checked tablecloth turned a row of desks into a picnic table. There was a campfire (made of red and orange tissue) to gather around and a tent. When it was time to read, she switched off the lights and gave the students flashlights and lanterns. Reading was suddenly fun. They read and shared tall tales around the campfire.
The students spent much of the two weeks planning a camping trip which gave them new ways to use math, geography and language. They made up lists of what they needed to bring and researched their destinations. They practiced problem-solving. One student came into school wearing a complete camping outfit, including a compass and flashlight.
“The kids really got into it,” Welch said.
“They’re doing math, and they don’t even realize it,” Gladden said.
Both projects were undertaken towards the end of the school year and that worked out well, they agreed. Towards the end of the year, kids are tired. Once the stress of standardized testing is over, they’re looking forward to summer vacation. But teachers can’t waste the last few weeks of school. There are still lessons to be taught, so a new approach is a welcome change for both students and teachers.
“They want to be included,” Welch said, “They’re interested.”
“You take what you’re good at and incorporate it,” Gladden added.
The kids went home and talked to their parents about what they were doing in school, which doesn’t always happen, Welch said. While she did get a few emails from confused parents, most of the feedback was positive. Parents recognized the change in their students.
A contingent of Cooper teachers will hear the Kings’ presentation, including the three who have already been implementing it. They’ll come back from the presentation and share it with the other teachers at school so everyone can learn how creativity can spark their passion for teaching again.