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Top of the class

Of mice and women

The Disney Teacher Awards honor popular educators. Several creative and inspiring Hernando County teachers are among them.

By MATHEW WASSERMAN
Published January 12, 2006

For 16 years, the Disney Teacher Awards have recognized creative teachers throughout the nation, honoring them with further education, money and appreciation.

Parents, administrators and students anonymously nominate teachers for the award. If interested, the teachers then fill out an application.

In April, a committee of education experts will select 40 honorees from across the country who will be flown to Los Angeles in July. The honorees will take part in a creative education program and a trip to Disneyland, and each will receive a personal $10,000 award and $5,000 for his or her school. The committee will also select four as outstanding teachers, and one will become the Disney Teacher of the Year.

The nomination deadline for this year's awards has passed. There were several nominees from Hernando County schools. Here are four of them:

Cari O'Rourke

Cari O'Rourke is a third-grade teacher at Chocachatti Elementary School. At the beginning of the school year, each of her students creates a superhero alter ego, equipped with a name, powers and a self-made costume.

"I do a section on alliteration, so all the students choose a superhero whose name starts with the first letter of their first name," she said. "It hooks the kids, and I use it to keep them interested."

Eight-year-old Earthquake Elly Weyde said she loves the idea because only her class does it.

"Our class is different," Elly said. "I know that no other students get to do what we get to do."

When her students are not in superhero mode, O'Rourke said, she does things that make the curriculum come to life, like singing and dancing. When she really needs to liven things up, or when students do something exceptional, she walks around the classroom on her hands.

"Everybody around here knows me as a teacher that walks on her hands," O'Rourke said.

In August, O'Rourke announced to the class that at the end of the school year, all the superheroes will go on a top-secret mission to the superhero mecca: Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure.

"They're all really looking forward to that," O'Rourke said. "It will be fun, but it will also be another way we can bring things out of the textbook and experience them."

Elly's mother, Heidi Weyde, said that in addition to engaging her students, O'Rourke gets parents' attention by holding a weekly learning session for them.

"She teaches the parents how to teach their children," Weyde said. "Each week, over half the parents from the class are there, and she goes through what the students will learn for the next week and the best ways to help their kids with the work."

Chocachatti principal Michael Tellone said he especially appreciates the afterschool program because it gives parents the opportunity to be more involved with their children's lives.

"She puts in a lot of time and effort to tell parents what their kids will be doing in school so they can work on things together," Tellone said.

Renee Golz

Renee Golz teaches first grade at Chocachatti Elementary School. She uses creative rewards to keep her students working toward a goal.

"One of the big motivators in my class is the gumball machine," Golz said. "When students finish a book or do something special, they get a gumball."

While a gumball might not seem like a big deal, Golz's students really do respond to such treats.

"We take a timed test with 20 math questions," said 6-year-old Holden Jung. "If the whole class does good, we'll get to make cookies one day, so we're all going to try."

Holden's mother, Shone Jung, said the incentives help keep students going, but it's Golz who really drives them.

"She does everything in her own way, and it works," Jung said. "When she's doing a math lesson, she incorporates music and has the kids stand up and do songs about it. When she's teaching writing and spelling, she has the kids write words into the air so they can visualize what they're learning. She is always finding new ways to teach."

Rosemarie Morrill, whose daughter is also in Golz's class, said she has been impressed with the way Golz finds the ways each individual learns.

"She picked right up on my daughter Kelsey," Morrill said. "She knows what level she's at and lets Kelsey work to her full potential."

Kelsey, 5, said she likes Golz's class because of all the arts and crafts, and because she can earn points to get gumballs.

Tellone said Chocachatti hired Golz right out of college because she was already a superb teacher.

"She doesn't just go with standard instruction; she expands everything she does," the principal said. "Everything she does is with her own style that reaches the kids."

Kathleen Gates

Kathleen Gates is a fourth-grade teacher at Brooksville Elementary School. She focuses on ways to make the material more interesting and ease the pressure of standardized testing.

"In this time of testing, you have to work around the testing so it doesn't consume you," Gates said. "It can get overwhelming and boring. The kids get tired of it, and my heart goes out to them."

Rachel Glowacke, 9, said she and her classmates pay attention because Gates makes the class fun.

"She's interested in the things she teaches, so it makes it interesting for us," Rachel said. "She makes things fun by showing us how to do things instead of just doing them. It's easier because she breaks things down so it's not just one big giant blob of work."

Rachel's mother, Lisa Glowacke, said Rachel comes home from school and immediately starts talking about how much she enjoys Gates' class.

"It's great," Glowacke said. "She's really enthusiastic about going to class and interested in everything she's learning about."

Brooksville Elementary is a Title 1 school because a large percentage of its students are low income. Gates said she does her best to expand her students' horizons.

"A lot of my students have never even been able to leave Brooksville," she said. "So I try to bring the world to them through history, reading and my own experiences."

Brooksville Elementary principal Mary LeDoux said Gates finds creative ways to pique students' interest.

"That's how she keeps the kids engaged," LeDoux said. "She knows you have to hook the kids in some way, and she always finds creative ways to do that."

Suzanne Hays

Suzanne Hays teaches fourth grade at Brooksville Elementary School. Her creativity lies in efforts to foster family and community involvement.

"I have a family picnic where each student leads a conference with their parents," Hays said. "Instead of me explaining the students' behavior and schoolwork, they do it themselves. Each student has a portfolio and a progress report, and they have to take responsibility for their behavior and grades."

Hays does a lot of out-of-class work with field trips and community interaction.

Cade Adamson, 9, said he likes her class because the students are not always sitting in the same room.

"We got to decorate the Heritage Museum and Brooksville Library for Christmas," he said. "It was good to walk around and let out energy. Some teachers want kids to have fun and let us learn how to relax and take our time with our work."

Principal LeDoux said this approach to community involvement and history teaches kids things that a textbook cannot.

"She teaches a living history," LeDoux said. "It's actually there in front of them. It's right in their faces - the real history of their town."

Nine-year-old David Asbell said getting out of the school building lets students learn by experiencing.

"We do a lot of field trips," he said. "We got out almost every month. Once, we got to walk around downtown and saw the different kinds of plants and things that are important to our town's history. It's easier to learn when somebody is showing you things, instead of reading about things in a book."

Mathew Wasserman can be reached at Mat65432@aol.com

[Last modified January 12, 2006, 01:23:25]