The Gazette
SSCHOOL CHOOL LIFE LIFE www.gazette.net
VOICES IN EDUCATION Kevin Ambrose
Amy Shapiro
n Age: 58
n Job title: Reading specialist
n Job title: Realtor
n Hometown: Washington, D.C.
n Hometown: Washington Grove
n Education: University of Maryland, George Washington University
n Education: Attended the University of Maryland n Family: Wife, Susan Van Nostrand, children, Grace, 24, and Myles, 18 n Hobbies: Cooking, reading n Favorite vacation spots: London and Rome
n Family: A husband and two college-age sons n Favorite vacation spot: Tuscany n Lesson to live by: I try to embrace the diversity among my students by taking the time to get to know them as people and learners. Once I understand who they are and what they know, I’m able to match my teaching to their learning.
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Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Kevin Ambrose volunteered in the first-grade classroom of Amy Shapiro at Somerset Elementary School in Chevy Chase for 12 years. The two currently work together at the after-school Homework Club at Travilah Elementary School in North Potomac. Ambrose was given a Distinguished Service to Public Education Award from Montgomery County Public Schools in May. Shapiro and Ambrose were interviewed together in Bethesda on Monday. Can you tell me how this relationship started? Ambrose: My son Miles was in Mrs.
Shapiro’s first grade in September 2001 and she asked for volunteers to help with Writers Workshop, a program where students write, edit, rewrite and present their work. I started going in two or three times a week for two and a half hours. How could you do that? Ambrose: I was, and am, Mr. Mom. My
wife and I are both Realtors, but she is better than I am, so I work for her. Shapiro: With Writers Workshop, parents would help with three or four kids each. They were editors as the students went though the process: brainstorming, rough draft, editing, publishing and presentation. Why did you stay with Mrs. Shapiro’s class after your son moved on? Ambrose: The reason I went back
was because one kid didn’t do anything for seven months, then he had a breakthrough. He [wrote] a joke. He was really excited and his mother still loves me [for helping him]. I wasn’t working with kids who were the best students, I really enjoyed it. All the kids got my jokes, Mrs.
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Shapiro got my jokes. Shapiro: It was a great class. The students clicked. The parents clicked. It was just a happy place to be. [Since then,] we have helped so many kids. We did it for 12 years together. Ambrose: I take directions well and check my ego at the door. Why did it end? Ambrose: She moved [from classroom
teacher to reading specialist]. I still go three times a week, working with a second-grade class, and I help Mrs. Shapiro with the Homework Club at Travilah Elementary School two times a week. Shapiro: The Homework Club is an after-school support program. The teachers are all volunteer and the kids are invited to come — mostly those who are not getting their homework done. It meets two days a week from 3:30 to 4:30 [p.m.]. I think the kids like it because they get their homework done. [To Ambrose] Did you ever consider becoming a teacher? Ambrose: No. I’m good for two-and-
a-half hours. It takes a special person to spend six-and-a-half to seven hours a day with a class of kids. You are on your feet all day and talking all day. What is the most interesting part of all of your years of volunteering? Ambrose: It’s been better for me than
for the kids. It’s kept my blood pressure level. This is what I was great at: while Mrs. Shapiro was working with a [specific] reading group, I was able to help the others do their seat work [reading and completing assigned tasks]. I also went on field trips and this is what I learned on my first field trip: each
kid had a piece of fruit in his lunch and no one ate it! [To Shapiro] How about from your standpoint. How was it to have such a consistent volunteer? Shapiro: It requires some planning.
It’s important if you are going to have a volunteer program that you have children for them to work with and they are doing work they want to do. I’ve always thought the more hands I can have in my classroom, the better for my students. That goes for the high learners and those who need the extra help. I really value parents as partners in teaching and learning. When you have the two-way communication between the parents in the community, you can tap into it and do so much more for your students. Mr. Ambrose came as a parent and stayed as a community volunteer. He was willing to help me. It was more than I could do with my two hands. I can’t help think how fortunate my students and I were, over the years, to have benefited from Kevin’s generosity of time and effort. His presence truly helped many of [the] students break through the obstacles that might have stood in the way of their learning. I was just lucky to have met him and just smart enough to have known how to use his service to enhance my instructional program. He truly was an amazing volunteer. “Voices in Education” is a twicemonthly feature that highlights the men and women who are involved with the education of Montgomery County’s children. To suggest someone you would like to see featured, email Peggy McEwan at pmcewan@gazette.net.
EDUCATION NOTEBOOK Superintendent plans meetings with students
County students celebrate International Walk to School Day Students across Montgomery County bypassed their school buses and carpools and walked to school one day last week in celebration of International Walk to School Day. They were joined by County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) and other political leaders at Kens-
ington Parkwood Elementary School to highlight a new pro-
gram at the school: School Pool. The program matches parents and students who would like to share the responsibility of walking students to school using a “walking school bus” or a bike train. “I was very pleased with the turnout, and the event in general,” Principal Barbara Liess wrote in an email. “I don’t have an exact percentage, but almost every child participated. At least 90 percent because we had the buses drop our students off at the starting point of the walk. “We are just starting the School Pool, today was our kick-off to introduce the program,” Liess wrote. “Parents were sent the application last night along with information regarding the program. We are hopeful that our families will participate by creating walking or biking ‘school buses’ and limit the number of cars at arrival and dismissal.” Walk to School Day, orga-
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Kensington Parkwood Elementary School students parade through the Parkwood neighborhood of Kensington on Oct. 9 as part of International Walk to School Day. nized by the Partnership for a Walkable America, began in the U.S. in 1997 as a one-day event aimed at building awareness for the need for walkable communities, according to the website www.walkbiketoschool.org. Other reasons to encourage walking to school, according to the website, are to encourage more healthful habits and promote clean air. In 2000, the event became international when the U.K. and Canada joined the U.S. for the first International Walk to School Day. Growing interest in the program led the International Walk to School Committee to shift its promotion to International Walk to School Month, celebrated in October. More than 40 schools across Montgomery County registered
their Walk to School Day activities on Oct. 9 on the website. All are county public elementary schools. The Kensington Parkwood program included a program for students in kindergarten through second grade about safe walking and a video for the older students about safe biking, Assistant Principal Alayna Lynam said. The success of Walk to School Day, as well as continued interest in bicycling to school, created a desire for a national event focused on bicycling to school, according to the website. The first National Bike to School Day took place May 9, 2012, in coordination with the League of American Bicyclists’ National Bike Month.
County school Superintendent Joshua Starr will hold six student meetings this school year, with three in high schools and three in middle schools. The first meeting will be held from 10:38 to 11:16 a.m. Thursday for students at Poolesville High School. The meetings are an opportunity for students to tell Starr about issues that are important to them. These events will be hosted by Justin Kim, the student member of the Montgomery County Board of Education. They will be archived on the school district’s website and shown on MCPS TV. Dates and locations of the remaining meetings: Nov. 25: A. Mario Loiederman Middle School, Silver Spring. Jan. 28: Northwood High School, Silver Spring. Feb. 27: Rosa Parks Middle School, Olney. March 18: Watkins Mill High School, Gaithersburg. April 24: Herbert Hoover Middle School, Potomac For more information visit www.mcpsstudenttownhall. org.
Homework hot line returns Homework Hotline Live! is back for its 68th season, offering students in grades K-12
free homework assistance from county public school teachers. Students may send text messages or email questions to the hot line from 4 to 9 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; students also may call in questions from 4 to 6 p.m. Students can ask questions by any of these methods: • Calling 301-279-3234. • Using the hot line website, askhhl.org. • Sending a text message to 724-427-5445. • Emailing question@ AskHHL.org. • Posting a message to Facebook at facebook.com/AskHHL. • Using Twitter, @askHHL. Homework Hotline Live! can be seen on MCPS-TV, on Comcast channel 34, Verizon FIOS channel 36 or RCN channel 89, and on the Web at www. montgomeryschoolsmd.org/ departments/itv/hhl.
Historically black schools focus of college fair Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Rockville will hold its third annual college fair from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The focus is on historically black colleges and universities and more than 50 schools were invited to participate. Seminars, open to middle and high school students, include “The ABCs of Financial Aid and Scholarships,” “Writing
the Perfect Essay” and “Choosing a College Major.” There will be onsite admission for select colleges, financial aid consideration and a raffle for a laptop or computer tablet for the first 50 students to arrive. The church is at 608 N. Horners Lane. More information is at mtcbc.org or by email feleciawp@msn.com.
Wootton students to present ‘Little Women’ Thomas S. Wootton High School in Rockville will present
the Broadway musical version of “Little Women,” with performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday in the school auditorium at 2100 Wootton Parkway. Based on Louisa May Alcott’s story of four sisters and their mother during the Civil War, the show chronicles the sisters’ search for love and life’s meaning amidst uncertainty and death in a turbulent time in U.S. history. “The musical is a lovely treatment of a classic story,” director Carla Ingram said in a statement. “It is full of great music, with songs of hope that all will enjoy and embrace.” Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for students. They may be purchased online at schooltix.org/wootton/ by selecting “Drama: Little Women” at the top of the page. For more information email Carla_A_Ingram@mcpsmd.org.