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Show " "" l: . 5(viiw Page 8A South Edition Lakeside Review t Wednesday, June 1, 1983 With Workshop Way Students Learn to Manage. wn By RON KNOWLTON Review Staff A tiny metal bell rings twice. Students in Ann Robinsons fourth grade class at Knowlton Elementary School in Farming-to- n look up and stop what they are doing. A deep silence covers the room. Mrs. Robinson steps to the blackboard as children quietly take their seats. A learning task time for the students has now ended and now Mrs. Robinson will do an exercise with the entire class. On the board is a phonics exercise. Children are asked to underline various sounds. She asks for volunteers. Hands fly in the air. is Jeff Lewis, a first. Is it okay for Jeff to make a mistake? Mrs. Robin- Farmington with his family in teachers role becomes one of January. It was weird for me. teaching all day long in small Ive never had it before. groups and allows the teacher Does he like it? Judd smiles to give more individual attenand says yes. Its better than tion. Mrs. McMahon rings a small assignments on the board. You work at your own speed and bell twice as she begins the stuff. teacher training session at TolIn another scene at Tolman man School. She explains this is Elementary School, teachers how teachers are to start a class are seated in neat rows. There lesson. are little signs posted all over Teachers will be taught Workthe room. Its okay to ask for shop Way in the same mode Its okay to make a mis- as the students would be taught, help. take. Similar slogans seem she tells the teachers. The session seems highly everywhere. They also adorn the walls of Mrs. Robinsons structured. Students like to i. y time clock, she explains. Speed is not a sign of intelligence. The program frees students to feel comfortable without competition, she claims. Praise is not to be given for right answers. We would praise people for risking, for for inconcern for itiative. Praise should also be given to students for raising their hands, for risking. Praise could also be given to a student who tells the teacher he did not do his homework, Ms. Gallagher said. The teacher is praising the student for being honest, not thank you for .not doing your homework. Also students who tell the teacher they dont know how to do a particular assignment should be praised. Asking for help is encouraged, but the students are to make most decisions for themselves. Praise can come in the form of a quick handshake and the words thank you for your in- self-hones- ty self-honest- y, itiative. Another form of praise is for the kids to clap for themselves. They like to hear themselves clap, Ms. Gallagher said. Although the system is meant to be We dont stop them from their own she said. Theyll competition, often race each other through the tasks. Then one will stop the other with wait for me. How do teachers like the sys- - ATTENTION extra-curricul- ar activities, leadership abilities, character, and person-a- l achievements were considered. - Robinson, workshop system in the classroom. tern? I keep getting more and more requests from teachers (for the program). They really want it, says Bonnie Middle-ton- , language arts supervisor for the district. Teachers who want to learn the Workshop Way need to con- tact Ms. Middleton, or other school officials so that workshop sessions to learn the system can be set up. Teachers must pay their own expenses which includes a $50 fee plus the cost of materials. Also, there are six different sessions that last a total of 22 hours, she added. The program has been spreading from teacher to teacher, she said, One teacher will be using the system when a teacher next door will ask what are you doing, Ms. Mid, dleton said. It rings true for teachers. Shari Lawes, a sixth grade teacher at Holbrook Elementary School, said there is such a wide variety of abilities in your classroom, its hard to reach them all. With Workshop Way all can have success 5 o' 1 c. and feel good about themselves. THE HIGH CLASS LOOK Dream.... TO THE LANDS "DOWN UNDER" all your travel needs. jl j ZEALAND Bargain AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND $97900 $97900 Bargain NEW Bargain AUSTRALIA $97900 7-- Nights 7-- Nights 9-- AUSTRALIA of Woods Kolts is president Cross high school senate, and AUSTRALIA & Fd'O8 & NEW ZEALAND NEW ZEALAND 1375 $1004 student body first academic vice president. She is also president of the Woods Cross chapter of National Forensics League. She has been a member of the a cappella and madrigal choirs, and was student director of the school musical Once Upon a Nights Bargain Bargain Cynthia of 3.7. In addition, ' Follow Your Four area high school stuTaylor has been president of dents have each been awarded a the band, choir, Honor Society, $7,000 Presidential Scholarship and seminary class at Roy. He won superior ratings in district covering four years of education at Weber State College. speech festivals and was named According to Jim Alvey, coor- outstanding literature student. Clarke is this years class dinator of school services which handles scholarships at Weber valedictorian at Clearfield State, the scholarship covers ranking number one out of 508 tuition and fees and provides with a grade point average of another $300, approximately 4.0. He is a member of the U.S. Chess Federation and placed per quarter. third and fourth in the Utah The four, who were selected State High School Chess Tour- from over 60 finalists include: nament. Gary L. Taylor, Roy High; Hall is president of the Woods Thomas E. Clarke, Clearfield Cross National Honor Society High; .Christopher K. Hall, and member of the Key Club. and Woods Cross Each contestant was required to have a composite score on the American College Testing Program (ACT) of at least 27 and a minimum grade point average - given to student by Ann has devised a teaching is who 4 Area Students Get WSC Scholarships High; tel . know what comes next, she explains. Also the tasks seem to make time go fast for many of the kids. Ms. Gallagher explains that teachers are not to give praise to students who do more work. There is also to be no comparisons between students by the teacher. That is not the priority. The priority is the human development of the child. Theres no proof at all that because you did 13 tasks today that you grew more than somebody who did six. Children should be allowed to work according to their own classroom. Kathleen Gallagher and Ann Marie McMahon have flown in from Xavier College in New Orleans to teach a group of teachers in the Davis School District how to teach using son asks the class as he comes the Workshop Way system. to the board. Yes, the kids Workshop Way tries to teach bellow back. children how to handle and Jeff doesnt make a mistake. manage their lives when they More hands fly in the air. We leave the classroom, Ms. Galhave a lot of brave people today lagher explains, by allowing willing to take a risk, Mrs. students to handle and manage Robinson observes as she calls themselves in school. on another student. The program attempts to The student, a shy boy, shuf- teach the children initiative, refles to the blackboard. He sponsibility, decision making underlines the wrong letters. skills, the ability .to work with A hush falls over the class. people, to develop Mrs. Robinson quietly walks to and a willingness to ask for the board, notes the right letters help, she explains. The classroom is transformed and comments It takes a lot of from a system where the courage to risk. Lets applaud for Steves teacher spends much of her time lecturing, to a workshop willingness to take a risk. Hands clap their thunderous ap- format. Children are taught a proval and a little smile briefly series of jobs they can do on appears on Steves face as he their own when theyre not returns to his seat. taught by the teacher. In Mrs. Robinsons clasThe smile is indicative of the results Mrs. Robinson says she sroom, these jobs are pinned to has noted since she started us- a bulletin board and each has a ing a new teaching method, number. Children go to the board and select the skill they Workshop Way. will work on individually or in a She has heard fewer complaints from parents and invari- small group. Its set up to be psychologicably they talk about an improvement in their childs self- ally satisfying to children of a esteem in meetings with Mrs. particular age, Ms. Gallagher Robinson. says. The jobs involve such things And the kids? They have noticed something different too. as vocabulary, English gramJeff Lewis said he likes Work- mar, math computation, spelshop Way a lot because it gives ling, partner reading and parthim a free choice. You get to ner research. The teacher builds two or know more things. You have a dictionary to look things up. Its three tasks a day with the class in the beginning and then gives better than just having assignthe students time to perform the ments on the board. Its really different, says tasks. The tasks could build to a Katie Wood, 9, another student total of 20. The tasks stay the same durin Mrs. Robinsons class. You ing the year, but the subject get to choose everything. 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