|
Writing with the second-graders
Last Thursday’s event was a different sort of “press conference”
that gave 20 second-graders a chance to turn the tables on their teacher and ask the questions instead of answering them.
During an exercise in conducting an interview as the basis for a story, the class and I discovered that Linda Hooper’s favorite color is red and that her most memorable classroom pet was a guinea pig who escaped when the announcements came over the intercom.
These kids were naturals. After a brief introduction into the “who, what, when, where, why” questions that are the basis of most news stories, the class quizzed Hooper for an hour and then wrote their own stories based on their new knowledge. And, armed with all that information, what better topic could I find this week than a veteran teacher who is poised to retire after inspiring children for 28 years?
“Child-centered” is not a phrase Hooper’s current crop of 7- and 8-year-olds would recognize, but it’s one that springs to mind after listening to her answers:
Q: Do you like your students?
A: I like all my kids – everybody has something special about them.
Q: What’s you favorite thing about teaching?
A: Watching you learn and watching you change and grow. That’s what’s fun about it.
Q: What will you miss most about teaching?
A: Seeing all of you and watching you next year as you turn into third-graders. I enjoy it all, and I’m going to miss it.
Q: Do you like reading to us?
A: I do. Can you tell? I pick out my favorite books that I want to share with you.
Hooper seems totally focused on and tuned-in to the children in her classroom, an observation that was substantiated by one of her former students, Smoky Mountain High School English teacher Julie Gentry. She was Julie Jones when she spent her second- and third-grade years with Hooper at the old Camp Lab School, Cullowhee Valley’s forerunner.
Gentry, an N.C. Teaching Fellow, picked Hooper as the teacher who most influenced her career choice.
When asked why, Gentry said that Hooper was the one who encouraged her to write.
“She seemed to love to read my writing – and not just mine, the whole class’s. She encouraged us to write and express ourselves,” Gentry said. “We wrote stories together and created books as a class. We were so proud of those books.”
Now that she’s a teacher, Gentry said she thinks Hooper succeeds in reaching every student because she makes it a point to get to know each child, recognizing the talents of each.
The children’s questions often tended toward learning Hooper’s personal likes and dislikes: Her favorite hobbies are gardening and crafts; her favorite field trip is to Asheville’s Biltmore House; she likes being tall; and rockets are among her favorite science experiments.
My question, on the other hand, was one I’d been wondering about for a lot of years.
All three of my children – Elizabeth, 22; Ellen, 20; and Scott, 18 – had Hooper as their second-grade teacher. And each of them lists her among their all-time favorites. What I noticed during the years my kids were in her class was that the pervasive elementary school complaints about cliques and hurt feelings based on playground incidents disappeared. Because all three reported such incidents in kindergarten and first grade, and again after second grade, it seemed to me that Hooper must be doing something to foster such friendly attitudes.
So I asked her how she manages to get kids to put such “cliquish” behavior aside during the year they’re in her class.
“It’s become so natural I don’t really think about what we do,” Hooper said. “I don’t like to see children isolated. We have lunch together, and we have playground rules that we have to get along and be nice to each other.”
Gentry, who was in Hooper’s classes in 1976 and 1977, agreed that in Hooper’s classroom, everybody belongs and is part of the team.
“I remember all of us being a class and Mrs. Hooper making sure we each recognized our talents,” Gentry said. “We each had our strengths, and we all felt that we were contributing.”
Hooper credits her own teachers and school experience with helping her succeed as a teacher. She attended Scotts Creek Elementary and Sylva-Webster (now Smoky Mountain) High School.
When pressed to name her favorite teacher, Hooper picked the late Lucy Crawford, who was her sixth- and seventh-grade teacher.
“She expected you to do your work, and we really learned a lot from her,” Hooper said.
The kids continued to ask good questions. By the end of the hour we had enough information to begin to piece together the teaching philosophy that has made Hooper a perennial favorite with her students.
Q: Is it fun to grade papers?
A: It’s not that it’s fun. I really want to see what you’ve done and what you’ve learned.
Q: Do you like being a teacher?
A: I’ve always enjoyed it, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I’m always learning new things, and it’s different every day.
Q: What are your favorite things to teach us?
A: When we do math in the mornings, and reading ... I like it all.
Q: Why are you retiring?
A: There are some other things I really want to do. I want to spend time with my own children and work in the garden. I want to can and freeze the vegetables I grow. And I want to travel.
Q: Will you miss your classroom?
A: Yes, I will. It’s very familiar and very comfortable. It’s like home.
|
