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	We know, we know. The year's nearly over and your head's still spinning from the loud drumbeat of demands: Test, test, test. You need improvement. Do more with less. Get with the program. More...
Students prove the grateful not dead Come out and play Small steps of Eddie So good, so good, you see! Oprah and me The power of one The light bulb goes on My own best student Chessmate! Enter stage left: a little fun, finally You're invited to... Food for thought I'm gonna learn how to fly! Hodja and his students

Edited by Mary Ellen Flannery

But guess what? You still rock—and so do your students. You told us so. From Arkansas to California, New Jersey to South Dakota, you wrote in to share your successes, your joys, your epiphanies—and they're awesome, the little ones along with the big. So take a deep breath and for a minute forget the lesson plans. Don't think about your salary, or budget woes, or the letters N-C-L-B. Instead, read on for the news stories that don't make local or national headlines. They're the victories of your colleagues, but they're ones all educators can claim.

Students Prove the Grateful Not Dead

Photo by Amber Wilkes

Gandhi said it's the simple things in life that take your breath away.

As part of a research project for my master's degree, I led my students at Mitchell Senior High School in weekly gratitude journaling.

Every Monday, the "journalers" would record their personal thanksgivings. They started off with responses such as, "I'm thankful for family and friends." But, as the school year went on, their gratitude grew more reflective and more insightful. They wrote about long runs on cold days, the crackle of fire and the melody of falling water, and the glorious imprint of the season's first snow.

My favorites? The students who appreciated "warm chocolate chip cookies when the chocolate is still melty," "the ability to make decisions and learn from them," and especially the one who wrote, "I'm thankful for being thankful."

When the experiment had concluded, I found my journalists had grown more polite than the teens in my other classes.

When I handed out Tootsie Rolls, I counted a greater percentage of "thank-yous" among my writers. And, while I don't know if they'll continue to journal, I do believe they'll continue practicing a new appreciation for the simple things in life. And, for that, I AM grateful.

—John Solberg, Psychology, Mitchell, South Dakota

Come Out and Play

Photo by Digital Vision

There was a time, maybe 50 years ago, when the schools here in tiny, rural Riceville, Iowa, had a big, energetic parent-teacher organization. According to old news stories, the group's 300 members packed the school auditorium.

But by 1990, when I graduated from Riceville High, the PTO didn't even meet anymore.

And, by 1995, when I took charge of the school's 19 first-graders at Riceville Elementary, there wasn't much interest in resurrecting one. But boy, there was a need. Our parents needed support; teachers needed supplies; and kids needed a place to play. Where the school should have had swings and slides, there was just a great big slab of concrete.

So two years ago, a small group of parents and teachers resurrected the PTO and started an energetic fund-raising campaign. With a school carnival, we quickly raised $6,000 for basketball hoops. With a monthlong penny war, we raised another $3,000. (In the last three days alone, we raised $850. Kids just got wild when they learned the losing teacher would kiss a pig.)

By last July, we had raised $40,000— enough money for an 8-foot-tall play set, complete with double slide and climbing wall. Compared to what we had, it's like the Magic Kingdom!

Now, we're turning our attention to all sorts of new projects to benefit our needier children: Math Nights, mentoring programs, and more. This year, a first-place finish in the Scholastic National Scrapbook contest netted us $2,500 worth of books to share with Riceville's kids. We're struggling with declining enrollment, declining funding, lack of teachers…we're fighting the same problems that teachers all over are fighting, but the PTO really has been a bright spot in our day.

And if you could have seen the kids when they first climbed onto their new play equipment—it was phenomenal!

—Tammi Mueller, First Grade, Riceville, Iowa

Small Steps for Eddie

Photo by Digital Vision

Eddie came to me seven years ago, in a wheelchair at the age of 14. I looked right in his eyes and knew he had the potential to walk. Right then, I made a personal goal that Eddie would walk down the aisle for his graduation.

My colleagues thought I was crazy. If it had been up to him, Eddie would have stayed right where he was. The wheelchair was a security thing for him. But we got him up and getting stronger and, within a few years of entering our MOVE program, Eddie was able to take his first few steps independently.

Once he started walking, you could just see the pride in his face—pride in the fact that he could take himself anywhere, to the market, on errands around campus. When he developed double pneumonia for the second time, the hospital nurse told me that he probably would have died if he hadn't been walking.

By 2000, he was able to walk a full lap around our football track—without his walker—and he stopped bringing his wheelchair to school altogether. And then, last year, Eddie graduated from Miller High School. Not only did he walk down the aisle, he walked up the stage ramp and sat in his assigned chair all by himself.

I sat in the audience and cried.

—Eileen Roseman, Director of MOVE

(Mobility Opportunities Via Education) program at Joaquin Miller High School in Reseda, California (Here's more information about MOVE).

So Good, So Good You See

Photo by Ozaukee Press

Last year, the staff at Thomas Jefferson Middle School just didn't have enough time to put together their annual Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast—our traditional kickoff to a month's worth of NEA's Read Across America events. But this year, I said we were going to do it, come hell or high water, and this place was hopping for a good four or five hours on February 26.

We invited both the elementary and high school kids, served green eggs and ham, painted faces, told stories, and involved the kids in a cupcake walk—when they hopped onto a paper footprint with a book title, they got a treat to take home. Then, after breakfast, we gave away 1,000 books to the kids. Their eyes just bugged out—"I can take this? Really?"

We're already committed to doing it again next year, and we've already collected about 200 to 300 new or gently used books from the community. To me, reading is one of the most important things.

—Barb Schwartz, Instructional Aide, Port Washington, Wisconsin

Oprah and Me

Photo by Sean Connelley

I was driving home from school after a long day one Friday evening, when my cell phone rang. It was a producer of the Oprah Winfrey Show—and, as you can imagine, I had to pull over. I couldn't think straight to drive!

I had sent them a pitch about my life: teacher by day, businesswoman by night. Now, I maintained my composure and answered questions about my teaching experiences—working late hours, no overtime pay, underpaid, must I go on? She made no promises, but the following Tuesday I received "the call," and—wouldn't you know it— they caught me at the beauty salon.

A few nail-biting days later a camera crew visited my classroom at McGregor Elementary School to follow my steps at work. I told them, "Everybody on Earth has a purpose; mine is to help children have a better life." My students were so excited, and I'm thankful to God that they had this opportunity to be featured on the show. And then, the following day, my best friend, who is also a teacher, and I reported to Harpo Studios at 8 a.m.

The show that day profiled five teachers at work (including other NEA members Patricia Alonso of Vermont and Stephen Flowers of Illinois). And then—surprise!—Oprah shared with us her favorite things: a trip to an Arizona spa, a state-of-the-art washing machine, a new laptop computer, and other gifts worth about $15,000 total!

I think it was my story that first caught their attention. In my application, I shared a recollection of my first day on the job, more than 25 years ago, when my little blonde-haired, blue-eyed student told me, "When they told me you were colored, I passed out." And then he actually hit the floor!

I knew then that I had to be a role model for these children, and I am. It used to be that some parents wouldn't want an African-American teacher for their children—and now they ask for me.

Oprah asked me what I did when he called me colored. I told her, "I'm just glad he called me colored." Wow! Oprah, in the flesh, whispering in my ear, "DeLores, that was so funny. You are just awesome."

—DeLores Pressley, Fourth Grade, Canton, Ohio

The Power of One

We began our year at Foothill Technology High School by focusing on these words from author Bryce Courtenay: "He had given me the power of one—one idea, one heart, one plan, one determination."

At our school, we aim to create citizens who feel empowered to make a difference in their world. To this end, all seniors complete special "hero" projects in the community. Usually, they go into it with a self-centered, "You want me to do what?" attitude. But inevitably, they look back and say, "I made a difference."

This year, after reading Courtenay's novel and then a newspaper account of South African children who can't attend school because they can't afford the $10 annual fees, each senior pledged to send one child to school.

Some sold bracelets or candy bars with messages on them. Others offered their used possessions at rummage sales. One young musician held a benefit concert. In all, our 112 students raised $3,006—enough money to send 300 South African children to school for a year.

We're so proud of this effort and blown away by the students' compassion and heart. And they're proud too. We have them come back and tell us, "I never realized how important one person was, or one gesture, until I did this project." And when they realize their own power, they keep making those contributions.

They make me cry every year.

—Melanie Lindsey English, Ventura, California

The Light Bulb Goes On

Photo by Groff Creative, Inc.

I have a student who deserves special mention.

Last year, as a sixth-grader, this child knew just a couple of words. He could write dog, cat, mom, and his own first name, and his writing was large, shaky, and totally disregarded the lines. He could read only the same words that he could write, and he was still having trouble telling what F sounded like and what M sounded like.

My instructional aide, Isabella Elbert, and I despaired. Even though he is mentally retarded, we had hoped to see more.

Then, in January we started a pilot program, the Wilson Reading System. In just three weeks, this young man, now a seventh-grader with us at Smithton Middle School, improved beyond our wildest dreams! He went from being unable to write a complete sentence to writing directions for making an origami boat: "You cut the black line, then you fold it into two halves. You take the design part on one side and fold it. Then you fold the other side. You have four rectangles…"

I had been working with phonemic awareness before, and it didn't seem to make too much of a difference. But this program presents it in a way they can understand: A, apple, ah; G, game, guh. You tap each sound off on their fingers, and we write the letter in the air or on their leg, and I think it's the kinesthetic learning that makes a difference with them.

It's just so exciting to see success in this child. He's trying, he pays attention, he's rarely in trouble. It's starting to click with him and I'm so happy.

—Nancy Brunner, Special Education, Columbia, Missouri

My Own Best Student

Photo by Kevin Whitlock

If I see my Tuslaw High School students on the street five years from now, I think they will say, "I remember when we did that project…." I know I will. I've had the best journey with my students that I could ever take.

In my 10th-grade English class for special education students, in honor of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi camps, we read the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, an account of life in the camps through the eyes of a young Jewish boy. We completed reports and posters, clipped news articles, sharing information as we learned more. And then, in a culminating activity, we baked Jewish foods and hosted a guest speaker whose parents had been slave laborers at Auschwitz. The kids were just amazed—they couldn't believe something like this would happen.

One asked, "These were just regular Germans?"

I'm sitting here grading their history tests and the scores are just fantastic. The whole experience was so energizing—for them and me. Elie Wiesel said, "I am my own best student," and I love that quote. That's what this project turned out to be—for me and my students.

—Sally Graven, Special Education, Masillon, Ohio

Chessmate!

Photo by Charles Votaw

J.D. started out last year in our school-based alternative program, where I was an educational assistant, with bad grades and a worse attitude. But we talked a lot and he grew interested in my life, especially in hearing about how I was going back to school mid-life to get a college degree in education.

When I brought in my course work, he wanted to look at it. And when we played chess together, it hit me—this kid is really smart. He was always thinking three moves ahead of me! So, why was he so disrespectful? Why was he in alternative education? Why couldn't he bond with his peers?

This year, J.D. earned enough points to return to regular classes and he asked our counselor, Paula McCoach, if I could be his mentor. Every day, J.D. stops by my duty station to say hello and chat for a few minutes, and I'll give him little rewards, like a candy bar, for doing well or making good decisions. Mostly, I've just shown interest in him and his life. And now, he's in a regular classroom and on the honor roll! He participates in community activities, belongs to an after-school club that takes students to visit colleges, and he consistently demonstrates respectful and responsible behavior. There is no doubt in my mind that college will be in his future.

Our school, Pocomoke Middle School, is changing the lives of 25 students with our Learning and Mentorship Program (LAMP). Like J.D., most need a model to assist them in setting goals and changing their behavior—and pairing them with a caring adult helps them to be successful. With our help, all are making great strides!

I have a lot of respect for J.D.'s accomplishments—his life has been hard and nothing was handed to him. But I'm getting the best out of our partnership, feeling that I'm helping someone and knowing that he's going to be successful in school. He's a better person now. He can do it.

—Linda Kinhart, Instructional Aide, Girdletree, Maryland

Enter Stage Left: A Little Fun, Finally

Photo by Sandy Schaeffer

It's been so long since we did a spring play at Mill Creek Towne Elementary. When state testing came in 1991, it killed it. But our new test is given in March instead of May, and it dawned on us that we could bring the play back.

Everything from the first day of school is geared to the test. But from March to June, everything is geared to the play and the fun comes back to third grade. It's marvelous. Everybody has a part—if we have too many kids, we just write some more parts. What this does for their self-esteem!

Best of all, it just unites the school. The parents chomp at the bit to get involved with costumes, props, everything. Our art teacher is involved—last year, he had kids painting scenes like French impressionists. And, of course, our music teacher is involved because the play is a musical.

We found a company that sells music, lines, everything already integrated with our curriculum objectives. Last year, it was a science play, but it's always about oral presentation and language skills, as well as art and music. This year, the play is a riot. It's about testing! We sing "Breathing in Deep" and "Follow the Directions."

Last line, Scene One: The kids are outside, the teacher is missing, the principal is having a heart attack, and one of the kids says, "C'mon, let's face this test together. I don't want any child left behind!"

The play is wonderful, but the big deal is what the play does for you. Our kids are giving up recess for three months to work on this—but it is like the light in third grade.

—Marilyn Graber, Third Grade, Gaithersburg, Maryland

You're Invited To…

Photos by Kyle Brehm

I don't understand this, because I've never felt this way, but there are some people who are afraid to come into an elementary school! Maybe because of something that happened in their past, they feel intimidated on our campuses—by the teachers, by the principal. So, we need to coax them in, in a non-intimidating, non-frightening way, and make them feel welcome.

Last year, after attending an Effective Schools conference, I was just fired up to find that way! So we at Burlington Elementary School created "Family Fun Nights" to bring educators and parents together in a fun, friendly way. As a parent myself, I know it's important to have parent involvement—and it's so important to know who your children are hanging out with and who their parents are.

Once a month, starting with kindergarten and ending with third grade, families get together in the gym for a potluck dinner. After the meal, college students take care of siblings while teachers and parents work with the children on school-related activities and projects in the library. (One fun night we made hilarious "potato people.")

Last year, we had 80 percent or better attendance at every event. The parents had fun and the kids had fun. I'm so proud of it!

—Kathy Boehler, Secretary, Billings, Montana

Food for Thought

Photo by Richard Haro

I've always heard breakfast is the most important meal—well, it is served beautifully at Erie Elementary. On the menu: student achievement. And at the table: teachers and administrators from every level sharing strategies as if they were recipes. What should be taught? How do we know students understand? What can we do when they don't understand?

At morning gatherings on alternating weeks, classroom teams get together, and then vertical teams representing every grade level, plus counselors and specialists. There is a place set for everybody.

After 28 years of teaching, I still get excited, but this new approach—called the Professional Learning Community—is really uplifting. It's giving teachers a chance to talk as practitioners, an idea which is often overlooked. We share samples, strategies, light bulbs that go off. And it comes right out of our classrooms—"What are you seeing? What are the trends? How can I help?"

The dialogues have been so rewarding. The things that I hear other teachers are doing are just fascinating—and the collegiality! It's just marvelous, as much as meetings can be.

We return to our classrooms with our minds full.

—Charles Garcia, Fourth Grade, Erie, Colorado

I'm Gonna Learn How to Fly

Photo by Rachelle Omenson

Surrounded by abandoned houses, crack dealers and prostitutes, the Creative Arts High School in Camden, New Jersey, might seem more like bad news than good. But this is a place where teachers are energized; students are achieving; and dreams are really coming true.

The magnet school, which opened its doors in the inner-city in 1999 with just 53 ninth-graders, has grown to nearly 200 high school students. Almost all of them are sitting at their desks every day—we have a 98.6 percent attendance rate—but they don't sit for long.

They're on their feet to dance—the senior dancers performed at the Black Dance Conference in California in January, and many are performing in a spring production of Dreamgirls. And they're on their feet to sing—Grammy Award winner Jill Scott visits throughout the year to participate in programs.

We're driven by Principal Davida Coe's vision of creative success and energized by our own hard work and results. Creative Arts High students are winning essay contests, piano competitions, voice contests, art gallery exhibitions, fashion shows, and jazz festivals, here and around the world. And then, when they're done climbing those mountains, our students are off to colleges all over the country, where 90 percent of them win scholarships.

Yes, all of the students at Creative Arts High achieve success, despite living in the most dangerous city in America. Our high school is like a diamond in the rough. Our students are strong, intelligent, and shine with their talents for the rest of their lives.

We're so lucky to have lived this dream.

—Sally Holland, Site Coordinator, Camden, New Jersey

Hodja and His Friends

Photo by GK Hart/Vikki Hart

Nasr-ed-Din Hodja was bringing the village's nine donkeys back from the mill one afternoon, and he was very pleased with himself.

Idly, he counted them. One, two…eight!? Oh no! He slid off his donkey's back, looked behind rocks and over hilltops, but couldn't find the stray. At last, he stood by his donkey and counted again. Nine! What relief. He went singing along, through the trees, until it was time to count again.

 Oh, no—not again! Were the donkeys bewitched? His friend, Mustapha Effendi, approached and the Hodja begged him, "Have you seen a donkey? First, there are nine. Then there are eight. Then nine again!"

"Let me see you count the donkeys," Mustapha ordered.

"One, two…" the Hodja counted, pointing at each one, as he counted up to eight. But his terror turned to amazement when Mustapha began to laugh.

"Oh, Hodja! When you are counting your brothers, why, oh why, do you not count the brother on whom you are riding?"

The moral of the story: Work carefully and accurately —a good lesson for students about to take the Missouri Assessment Plan.

In my classroom at Francis Howell North High School, I told a story a day to my juniors, beginning the week before the Missouri Assessment Plan. From my friends on an international storytelling e-mail list, I selected stories of hope and acceptance, finding good in difficulties, and working for one's own reward.

I think it did give students a positive focus and a chance to receive gentle advice. If nothing else, it gave everybody a chance to relax just a bit, and we all think better when relaxed.

—Mary Garrett, Language Arts, St. Peters, Missouri