EXPERIENCES OF A BEGINNING JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATOR

Written by Dr. Ginger Covert Colla Western Region Past President

Introduction: The inspiration for this essay was the story, Mrs. Thompson and Teddy Stoddard. To summarize, Teddy was a little guy in Mrs. Thompson’s fifth grade class that she just didn’t like very much. He was unpleasant, messy, and earned bad grades. She discovered in his past records that Teddy’s mother had died when he was in the third grade and that his life had deteriorated after that. She began treating him differently and he later praised her for making a such a difference in his life, a difference that helped him get through high school, college, and medical school and become a doctor. He also asked her to take his deceased mom’s place at his wedding. This story is widely circulated as true. However, the story was written by Elizabeth Silance Ballard (Now Elizabeth Ungar) and published in Home Life magazine in 1976. It was not represented as being a true story but rather as a piece of fiction. It was later republished in the magazine in 1976 with the notation that it was one of the most requested stories in the magazine’s history.

My essay: I’ve read this story several times on Facebook and I still get a lump in my throat. It reminds me of my first teaching job the spring of 1960 at an intercity junior high school in Oakland, CA. The average IQ was below 100 according to the administration. There were predominantly students of color. Many were low in their academic achievement, but some were excellent students. I decided to review the children’s records. Most of those who were struggling were from broken homes and many had moved often in their young lives. I found those who were excelling were from longtime Oakland residents and stable families. I decided then and there that an IQ score was really only the floor of their intelligence, not the ceiling of their potential. I had taken the place of a teacher mid-term whose grades were based solely upon the results of written tests. Many had failed repeatedly. I thought as a new teacher I should probably do what she did to assess their knowledge. I was teaching 5 general music classes of about 40 kids each and one of them had 20 Specials Education students. I gave the first written test, and a few didn’t even bother to take it and a lot received low grades. Most of the children seemed to really like music and readily joined in on singing and other activities. I decided that things had to change. The next unit was on instruments of the orchestra and band. I told them they had a choice. They could choose to take the test, write an essay on an instrument, draw or make an instrument or demonstrate an instrument. I assured them if they completed the assignment, they would all receive a passing grade. Well, the day came when their projects were due. Not one child chose the test. A few wrote an essay, but by far they chose a creative solution. Everyone participated in their chosen way. Many Special Education kids drew beautiful pictures. Many of the students made an instrument like a drum or shaker. I’m not a pianist, so I accompanied singing in classes with a ukulele. One especially gifted student carved a miniature ukulele out of wood with thread for strings! The school had a fine instrumental teacher and quite a few students decided to play and demonstrate their instrument. They all did their best and all received an A. We displayed everything for back-to-school night and had a big turnout of parents. So many of the kids had never been featured in a backto-school night before. The joy and pride shown on the faces of students and parents alike was striking.

I had learned a huge lesson. I realized how important it was to understand and appreciate the individual learning styles of students. According to educational theory those modes of learning are auditory, visual and kinesthetic plus those of students who exhibit a preference for reading and writing. Most students are some combination of these. As an educator it is crucial to acknowledge that students have different approaches to how they process information, and it is important to incorporate the various learning modes into daily activities, curriculum and assessments. Later on, I also resonated with the 1983 seminal book by Howard Gardner, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. His philosophy challenged the idea that IQ tests are based upon educational curricula which only recognize reading, writing and mathmatics. Gardner recognized the big three but expanded upon them. He included Verbal/Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Visual/Spatial, Musical, Bodily/Kinesthetic, Interpersonal and Intrapersonal. He has expanded upon the theory in other editions. If you haven’t read Gardner’s theory, I strongly recommend it, not only for teachers but for parents and all who deal with inspiring others to maximize their potential. My year and a half of teaching junior high at a challenging intercity school also taught me that fairness, empathy and humor were important tools to succeed there. I had some difficult discipline problems at first and I had to get creative to manage some of them. I mentioned above playing the ukulele. This allowed me to walk around the room as we sang together. If a student was acting up, I would stroll over and firmly plant my foot on that of the offending student and just keep on smiling and singing. It worked every time. The following year at Havenscourt I was assigned the choral classes. I determined to take the 9th grade chorus to a California Music Educators Association Choral Festival in San Francisco. The majority of them had never even been to San Francisco just a few miles and a bridge away from Oakland. The trip became my magical disciplinary tool. The students were challenged to behave, or they couldn’t go on the trip to the festival. They all behaved! Our uniform was a simple red vest worn over white shirts and black pants. They were so proud that they had earned an Excellent rating! They were also thrilled to have seen the city and they had performed on the stage at the San Francisco State University auditorium. They also had learned to listen respectively and discriminately to other choirs as members of an audience. I learned that having a challenging goal and believing in them was an incredibly powerful motivator.

"I realized how important it was to understand and appreciate the individual learning styles of students."

Dr. Colla has enjoyed a multifaceted career spanning more than 60 years as a conductor, music educator, church musician, singer and participant in professional organizations for all ages and stages: preschool, elementary, junior high school, high school, community college, university, church and community organizations. She is an ACDA Western Division Past-President and was honored with the Howard Swan Award in 2004.