OCR Text |
Show HO OPS ALBEE BES = MIE ELLE BILDER PGE OHA oe lS eos ehaee ab a ere Ss — pasta rcrenceattintetimadet | ome At SEMPRE “MAY 23,2001 | a _. 2) A Massachusetts non-Mormon liberal democrat, and _ 3) a small town Christian girl from North Dakota. With our combined 20 years of teaching experience, innovative techniques, and motivating methods, we felt Superintendent Danny Talbot, Dennis Bacon, and Vicki Todd (to name a few) offered us tremendous support and encouragaement. Consistently promoting excellent teaching strategies and collaboration through pein nie eed aS TITS on f continual professional development and implementation. As a direct result of their support and encouragement we have all made professional growth and moved on to university level positions. We would return to Wasatch School District at any time to work for these fine people. Jeri Mendel, Park City _ Lavinia Ray, Park City | Publisher's Note: Three of three hundred plus teachers? Not quite a trend. And two of you live in PC.? Teachers Deserve Credit I’m not usually one to write edito-. rials or voice an opinion in public ne forums; but as a teacher at Rocky Mountain Junior High School, I have been frustrated by the picture painted of our school in the discussions of circumstances surrounding one of our fellow teachers, Doug Webster. Also, I resented the implication that other teachers at the junior high school were boring conformist, who lack creativity and who are unwilling ideas. Among teaching methods | | Junior high teachers have changed what they do by working to make inclusion and teaming positive changes in our educational system. Teachers have had to learn new ways to teach to implement these and | the new methods junior high teachers have been learning are inclusion and teaming. The junior high was one of the first schools to implement full inclusion becoming a leader in on-site teacher train- ing and inservice. Junior high teachers have worked hard to implement new teaching techniques to make the inclusion model of teaching a success at our school. Even though it is a work in progress, we have about small things. | I’m sorry, but I tired of your paper | dents in this community? Continue to ‘ ’ §; { 3 put down their teachers, their principals, their administrators, and their educational system? What can you do to help unify the community in goals that will help our students achieve? What can you do to promote solutions instead of contentions? trying to make me feel like I’m not doing a good job, that I’m asking for too much money, and that I’m not teaching my students because test scores don’t reflect everything that’s being accomplished in my classroom. I'm tired of being criticized by the public because I’m a teacher. I do this Janet Nunez job because I care about my students. I live on less than I could to be a Teacher © Rocky teacher, to help my students, to con- : io Mountain School Junior High ae | . : % — new ideas, as well as participating in implementing a school wide discipline plan which, in the last 3 years, has made a _ huge difference in the quality of classroom teaching and school atmosphere, as well as greatly WASATCH COUNTY & Olde Swiss Square oes 210 East Main, Suite 202 _ Midway, UT 84049. aero Wasatch County’s Source for News » ~ 51435) 654-2661 © (435) 654-2531(f) e editor@wasatchcountycourier.com: ‘ - MEMBER: UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION/ASSOCIATED PRESS reducing the frequency and the severity of school disciplinary incidents... <= . Every year there’ are teachers who’s contracts are not picked up for the next year. Many factors influ- Editor & Publisher . : Managing Editor. 5 Dan Stephens Derek Jensen Office Manager , Dixie Bishop Sports Editor < . Russ Riggs STAFF WRITERS | | a Be eo Derek Jensen ¢ Tim Westby ¢ Paul Swenson ee 2 — CONTRIBUTORS surprised that your paper has sited religion as one of these factors. Many staff members are not LDS. Matt Heimburger ¢ Aaron Taylor © Nicki Callahan e Cameron Woolley = sea , 3 Art Director Erin McGuinness Books Amber Stephens Circulation/MIS Dylan Stephens | Security picked up are LDS. I would like to see some substantiation for this : Ramona PRESIDENT/CEO e sed ce ence these decisions. I am, however, Many of those who contracts are not Stephanie Discher, Heber City to try new ties. What can your paper do to help the stu- eT | how to give. How about you? eee | ing”. Teaming has been introduced to give students and teachers more opportunities to succeed; to have closer student-teacher relationships, to better integrate between core subjects, to provide more flexibility in scheduling, and to increase participation in educational activi- tribute to this world by facing them everyday and giving them all I know ee also spent countless hours in “team- 1) A Chicago Jewish liberal democrat, also in the process of becoming inclusionary schools. Teachers at the junior high have Wasatch teachers must be active Mormon, non-innovative, and nonengaging." ne We are three professional former Wasatch District teachers who clearly do not fit the above description. Our backgrounds are varied. who are I ~ a In response to your editorial "God Made Them Do It" in the May 16th issue editorial, we take great offense from the statement that "successful I want to reach them all. | See Michael i Kearns Ee accusation. Statistically, in the three years I have been here, the data I’ve researched does not show a correla- tion between the contracts being renewed and the religious affiliation of the teacher. It is, however, a great angle to spark up some excitement over the issue. | : pak inane Editorial Claims than I do. put enough pressure on myself to succeed with these kids thatI don’t need you're paper making a big deal I truly believe that every teacher in this building is doing their best to be the best teacher they can be and that our administrators are doing what they believe to be best for students.. Teaching is not an easy job. It’s not a job that you can do hiding behind a desk or behind a stack of — papers. You're face to face with students everyday. You look into those faces everyday and ask yourself what can I give these students today that — will help prepare them for their future. You want to reach them all everyday. That’s 150 students you want to influence for good - everyday. And, every student is different and nT a Teachers Better Than made great strides in inclusion. The junior high, along with Heber Valley Elementary, have helped pave the way for other schools in the district, has different abilities, learning methods, and differing amounts of support from home. Some want to learn, some want to quit, some want to please their teachers, some want to rebel, some want attention, some want to be left alone, some have learning disabilities and some have bigger problems and harder lives GOT A GRIPE? © Let us know. Write to us. We’d love to hear from you. Send your letter to the editor tO: | _.. Wasatch County Courier = Sa | 210 East Main, Suite 202 ¢ Midway, UT 84049 (435) 654-2531 fax Or email it to: letters@wasatchcountycourier.com soe | |