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Show OREM-GENEVA TIMES Page 3 NEWS AND IDEAS FROM CLASSROOMS AND EDUCATORS "Hi Week" at MVHS provides student fun really want kids to be coming up to me saying, 'You really impacted my life.' " Mandi Nuttall, orem high school health teacher Thursday, September J, 2005 , 4 A Oram 2005 BYU grad takes over class that she student-taughtfor last year Jamie Lynn Custer NORTH COUNTY STAFF Orem High School has a new member of the faculty. Mandi Nuttall is the new health teacher. Nuttall graduated from BYU in 2005 in Health Science with an emphasis em-phasis in School Health. Last year Nuttall was a student teacher under Melanie Hoops in the same class she is now teaching. Hoops left the position posi-tion to have a baby. While student teaching last year, Nuttall also taught Drivers Driv-ers Ed for Provo High School. "That is a very scary job," said Nuttall. "But I am going to continue that job." Nuttall is also the coach of the Orem sophomore girls volleyball vol-leyball team. "I really love coaching. They are great kids," she said. Nuttall Nut-tall played volleyball for a year and a half at UVSC then at BYU for two-and-a-half years. She also coached for a volleyball vol-leyball club, called Players, for two years, before graduating. "Coaching at Players actually actu-ally helped me get to know some of the students before they were my students," said Nuttall. Nuttall is originally from Camino, Calif., which is in the Sacramento area. She was married earlier this year on April 1 to Matt Nuttall. Even though their wedding was on April Fools Day, "It was for real," she said. Nuttall plans to teach for a very long time. "I would like to retire from teaching in 30 years," said Nuttall. "Although I do plan on having children." But the only baby they'll be having for awhile is their dachshund History teacher brings Utah's past to Susan Starkweather NORTH COUNTY NEWSPAPERS In classroom 137 at Oak Canyon Can-yon Junior High School, among the rows of desks, sits a log cabin in the corner of the room. Suspended from the ceiling is a canoe with a mountain man and an American Indian paddling, pad-dling, and traveling around the corner on the wall are 12 model-size model-size covered wagons in a line. Every square-inch of the room is covered with something that has to do with Utah history his-tory and that is exactly how teacher Jon Winget wants it. His ultimate goal is to create lifelong learners while he has his students for half a school year. The challenge is to make the past relate to children's lives in the present. He says his tool is the children's own energy, creativity and excitement for learning. His springboards are all the objects in his classroom. "History is too abstract to just be reading out of text. I like to bring it alive by visual illustration, illus-tration, creativity, imagination, and the curiosity of the young mind," he said. "Every day I want to create something that a kid will come into class and say, 'Wow! That is important, and I want to know more.' Then they are lifelong learners." He said he doesn't see teaching teach-ing as a job. He will say that it is a responsibility, but he really sees it as an art. "Some people might walk into this classroom and think I'm crazy," Winget said. "But I will do whatever it takes to make a connection between today and yesterday. I have a hard time teaching something that doesn't relate to today." Winget found someone to donate do-nate the logs for the log cabin, and then he built it. HIS welcomes puppy which "looks like a mini rottweiler," said Nuttall. Nuttall has clear reasons for choosing teaching as her career. "I really want kids to be coming up to me saying, 'You really impacted my life,'" said Nuttall. "I had some horrible teachers in high school. They didn't know me and they didn't care about me." It hasn't been that long since Nuttall was a high school student stu-dent herself, so it makes sense when she says, "I can relate to students in high school. I can help them feel like someone cares." Nuttall reports that many of her teaching styles and ideas have come from important people in her life that have influenced in-fluenced her to go into teaching teach-ing and to be great at it. "Harry Wong, author of 'First Days of School,' has been a great inspiration to me," said Nuttall. "Paul Coon of BYU is amazing in every way. He has inspired me greatly." In the 20 minutes it took to get this interview with Nuttall, Nut-tall, there were three separate groups of students who entered en-tered her room, apparently just to chat. "You are clear out here in No-mans Land," said one student as he left her room. It didn't seem to be a place where someone was just in the neighborhood, yet they kept coming. There didn't seem to be a lot of direction to their conversations. conversa-tions. It was the kind of chatting chat-ting you might expect between friends, except there was no off-colored comments or high fives. "I believe this is the greatest job in the world," said Nuttall. "I wouldn't want to be doing anything else." JEREMY HARMONNorth County Jon Winget the Utah Studies teacher at Oak Canyon Junior High in Lindon, shows visitors around his highly decorated classroom as he meets with parents and incoming students prior to the start of the new school year. He wants his students to know what it was like to live in a log cabin during Utah's frontier days, and he said he hopes that the log cabin helps accomplish this. He said that he is "making something that creates cre-ates a deeper experience and memory of the lesson." It's the same philosophy with the hanging canoe, which Winget found at the bottom of a lake. "The kids got out the encyclopedias en-cyclopedias and researched what mountain men and Na MATT SMITHNorlh County Orem High School teacher Mandi Nuttall discusses word definitions with her st udents during u morning class at the high school last week. Nuttall earned her college degree at Utah Valley State College and Brigham Young University. She also played volleyball at both schools, und coaches the Orem High sophomore volleyball team rf - i' it ' 4 fa ' " tive Americans looked like," he said. "They used models for the mountain man and Native American in the canoe, and they measured the modeLs." Winget was actually the model for the mountain man in the canoe. "It was a great opportunity to show that art crosses over into history," he said. "It was one of the greatest moments of last year when they put that canoe up." This year, the project will be to integrate English and his mew teacDier ' I ? the present k . 4 tory. Winget will work with English teacher Sue Jones to help students produce maps showing the historical features of Lindon. "The kids will do oral surveys sur-veys of the people in the community com-munity who know about Lin-don's Lin-don's history," he said. "Then the students will do some research on these sites and take pictures. They will use GPS to map where the sites are and provide a map of historical places in the community that anyone can use." t4S Scout helps completing Linda Butler IJOHMI i f.tjl ( M.ll As Eagle Scout candidate Scott Brady worked on his project, building two kivas for Aspen Elementary first-grade classnxnns, he added qualities such as "ingenious," "dedicated" "dedi-cated" and "hard-working" to the 12 points of the Scout Law that starts with the familiar "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful ..." Scott and fellow Scouts in Troop 4H0 of Orem spent two long weekends and more than 200 hours creating and building gathering areas, or kivas, for the young students. A classroom kiva, said first-grade first-grade teacher Brooke Duncan, is a meeting area for the students. stu-dents. "We use it for story time, for class meetings," she smd. "If we're not at our desks, we're sitting on the kiva." The school had only one kiva in one classnxm. said principal Sherrie Ilolbrook. These carpeted, two-step seating areas make excellent gathering areas, and are in high demand by teachers who work with young children. "They keep the children centralized cen-tralized and they're not sitting on a dirty floor," Ilolbrook said. "Unfortunately, kivas are also very expmsive," she said. That's where Scott Brady came in. Following the Boy Scout slogan, "Do a good turn daily," Scott began his Eagle project. l.)uring one afternoon, Scott and his parents came and Brayden Santo Last week was a lot of fun for some, but for others, it wasn't so good. "It's leen a long week," Senior Se-nior Eddie Barney said. With all the disclosure documents docu-ments flying around and all the lectures on class rules, it definitely defi-nitely was. Senior Matthew Draper said. "This year. I've had the hardest classes ever, seniors are sup Ksed to take it easy." There are a lot of reasons to go to school, (letting an education edu-cation is one, hut being with friends is another. Sophomore Stephanie I lar-ris lar-ris said, "I like being with my friends again, and leing with boys." Last week was "Hi Week." 1 guess it was just to say "Hi" to H'ople and to get to know each other. At the end of last week, the student council put on a big assembly. Many of the students enjoyed seeing male members of the student council walk across the stage in short shorts and spaghetti straps, demonstrating what not to wear to school. We also had our school pictures pic-tures taken. Some eople knew about them, while others eyes grew big when they heard "school pictures are today." We had two football games last week, but you can read about those games in the sports section. After the varsity loot-ball loot-ball game against Copper 1 1 ills, there was a big dance. Also, last week were auditions audi-tions for the upcoming drama production, "Beauty and the Beast." It is sure to be a wonderful won-derful performance. The band is doing great . We got our music, and have started to practice. The band is ready for a great year full of musical knowledge and fun. It will be hard work to sound good, but we will get there. Next week is "HappyKind nessCTub Week." If "Hi Week" was just to get to know everyone, then what is in store for next week? We'll find out and see you all next week with the latest s oop on the Bruins. school while Eagle project measured the school's existing kiva. f rom the measurements, plans were carefully drawn and Scott had supplies donated by four local businesses --Burton --Burton LumlxT, Ogden's Carpet Car-pet Outlet of Orem, Allred's Ace Hardware and Sto k Building Supply. Under the supervision of Scoutmaster Ken Call, Scott and other members of his Scout troop spent two long weekends measuring, cutting, nailing and stapling the two kivas together. Each kiva consists con-sists of three parts that form the shape of an "L." The two steps are carjx;ted for durability and comfort There are storage shelves on the back of the seatsteps. Each "leg" is about 12 feet long, and the structure can comfortably seat about 25 children. The kivas were delivered during the last week of school and both students and teachers teach-ers were thrilled "This is incredible," said first-grade teacher Knsten (ottrel). "We are so grateful for all of Scott's hard work. I'm so impressed. It's just like '."hristma.s." It was, indeed, hard work, according to Scott "I'm very gratef ul for all the help," Scott said. "I'm glad I'm getting my Eagle project done this early " In addition to completing his Eagle Scout project, the B-year-old student just completed seventh grade at Oak Canyon Junior High. Scott is the son of Ann Saxton and Mark Brady. L. I COPY A 'ft it ifti iifflihrthnii Aa. A d |