Lowcountry teachers go beyond the call of duty to make a difference.
We see it splashed across the headlines every day. South Carolina schools are struggling. In fact, it’s even become an issue in the upcoming presidential election. And with good reason. Our schools are struggling, dropout rates are hovering in some districts around 50 percent, and the heated debate about the emphasis on testing continues. These overwhelming issues leave many, even some within education, asking: “But what can I do?” Here are three people who are answering that question, surpassing the standards and creating excitement for learning. These are teachers who are working within the system and then stretching beyond it to truly form incubators for excellence. They are taking action against the tide.
Photo by Terry Kuzniar
Eva Stratos hands a student the orange TED (Turtle Exclusion Device) while gathering around a crab pot in her classroom.
Eva Stratos
Belle Hall Elementary School
Years teaching: 25
Eva Stratos is a teacher who brings her own passions to the classroom. As a lifelong environmentalist, it only made sense for her to incorporate environmental lessons into the classroom when she became a teacher.
Stratos has been a S.A.I.L. (Students Actively Involved in Learning) teacher for 20 years, which gives her the opportunity to teach hands-on science lessons that provide her students lessons in critical thinking.
“I’d always had hands-on classroom work, teaching science concepts, but we weren’t applying them to real problems,” she says. “Something was missing.”
Through the years, she had begun to notice that children weren’t getting outside like they used to, and that they had less knowledge of their environment; simply, they were less conscious of it and might not know simple things about the landscape and the waterways. And as a S.A.I.L. teacher, she had the ability to change that – if she wanted to make the extra effort.
So she turned to Lowcountry Earth Force, an environmental organization that promised help, resources and tips to take her teaching to another level. “At the beginning, I was almost expecting it to fail,” she says, but every year, her students were tackling real problems and learning research skills, science concepts, problem solving and varying viewpoints, all the while adhering to all the standards of the classroom set forth by the state.
“Taking action with the students has been life-changing for me, and I feel like I’m truly making a difference.”
This year, Stratos’ students are tackling the issue of TEDs, or Turtle Exclusion Devices, for crab pots. These plastic devices protect turtles but don’t lower the crab catch, and some of her students have had hands-on experience with crab pots, so this project seemed natural.
“We ID a problem, and then research it before ever taking action,” Stratos stresses. “That way we have knowledge and credibility before we go out into the community.” And even though she’s working with elementary-age students, “they are actively involved in the decision-making.”
And the biggest reward? Instant gratification and increased enthusiasm for learning. Stratos has students passionate about the projects and personally invested in their outcome. Her students feel empowered, and she’s solved her initial problem – they are becoming more aware of their natural surroundings.
“Not all of the projects over the years have succeeded, but that’s OK because the children still learn so much,” she says. And when you mention the extra work it is for her, she responds, “I just see this as the best option for teaching. And yes, it does take effort, but there are wonderful rewards. And I really get to bond with the kids.”
Photo by Terry Kuzniar
No pop culture reference, including Austin Powers and Dr. Evil, is out of the question for During if it helps his students connect to the material. He wants to overcome the often negative association his students have with history.
Carl During
Fort Johnson Middle School
Years teaching: 8
For a lot of students, history just is not interesting. Middle School teacher Carl During understands.
“If I don’t find it interesting, they won’t find it interesting,” he says, citing examples of endless notes, teachers relying exclusively on textbooks, and no enthusiasm for the subject. Add another challenge that most students have formed a negative opinion of history by the time they reach During’s class, and he has a lot to overcome.
Never fear. During tackles these challenges like a Clemson linebacker (an analogy that he would like since he’s a big Clemson fan and the students know it). In fact, he is a carnival leader, infusing pop culture, hands-on activities and plenty of enthusiasm into the oft-dusty halls of history.
Each unit in his Ancient History class has an activity associated with it, from creating group presentations to great review games. One really popular exercise for his students is to create a song or poem based on a historical period.
“Raps are very popular, and I had one group do ‘Tut, Tut, Baby’ to the tune of ‘Ice, Ice Baby’ for our unit on Egypt. It was great,” he says. He records each song with a computer program, and at the end of the year, burns a CD for each student that wants one.
Overall, During incorporates a lot of technology into the classroom with power points, movie clips, sound bytes and assorted other pieces of pop culture to keep the students on their toes. Occasionally, even The Simpsons references make it into his classroom.
“We [Fort Johnson Middle School] received a technology grant, and we got better TVs and computers, so each social studies class has this set up. All I had to do was to get a special cable at Wal-mart to set it up like I wanted.”
But buying equipment is not the only way he goes the extra mile. He gets excited in class, has students repeat words, directs the class through assisted notes with “big blue” (a large stick he uses to keep the students’ attention) and has even been known to jump on a table. In short, he has fun, and his students do too. They retain more information, but more than that, many have a different feeling about history than when they first entered During’s class.
“I maybe have one to two discipline referrals all year, and that’s less than the average here,” he says.
“You have to engage on their level and keep them entertained. I want to have fun, and I want them to have fun, but the whole time they’re learning the material.”
Photo by Terry Kuzniar
Thane Williams motivates his Spanish students through the use of ”cool” technology, getting them to take the learning of a language out of a textbook and bring it into their own personal environment.
Thane Williams
North Charleston High School
Years teaching: 20
One of the main problems I saw is that I was having upper level kids who wouldn’t do projects. These were advanced students, but the lack of completion would affect their grade,” says Thane Williams, the teacher for six classes of Spanish at North Charleston High School. “I wanted something to give them enthusiasm.”
That “something” Williams discovered could be Adobe Photoshop. This might have been a challenge in a school where many students don’t have computers at home, but not for Williams. He structured his class to include time to work on projects, and he started reserving the computer lab a lot.
Before long, Williams had computers in his class. He became an Adobe Education leader, and his students’ project completion rates rose from around 5 percent to close to 95 percent. “And these projects are more creative to give them a hands-on experience with the language without having to speak in front of the class.”
His students receive a computer project assignment for every chapter – making movies, recording themselves speaking the language, associating the object with the word in Spanish and simultaneously learning about Latin cultures.
One project that is especially popular with Williams’ students is a task on celebrations. Instead of simply having a class memorize the Spanish words associated with a party, he directs the students to throw a real party (including cake and balloons) and then film it, creating a movie entirely in Spanish. Students speak to each other in the language, and they have hands-on associations with the language. They have fun learning, eating cake and filming themselves having a celebration. The words are no longer in a grammar and conjugation vacuum; they are used in a real situation.
“I recently had a student ask, ‘Mr. Williams, why do you show us the word in Spanish with a picture, and not show us the English word?’ I told her ‘I don’t want you to think of the English word. I want you to see the object and think of the Spanish word.’”
Just like Carl During, Williams has very few discipline problems in his classes because the students have a high level of involvement, so much so that they’re often surprised when the bell rings.
Williams says, “I have to work on getting them a new comfort level because they are learning computer programs along with the Spanish language. But I like the excitement they have for learning, and they really do try hard.”
Click here watch a video created by Thane Williams' students
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