Is this your year?

NEA Today, Sep 1995

DARING TO LEAD

"There's no time like the present to make a difference in the Association. Each of us has a responsibility to our colleagues and our local to make them stronger. I decided last year it was time to do my part," says Connecticut high school teacher Natalie Smith (pictured above at the NEA Representative Assembly.)

That's why Smith, a member of the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC), stepped up her involvement at the local, state, and even national levels.

Smith is now her local's building representative at the CREC Polaris Center in East Hartford. "I plan to make sure everyone in my building is as active and enthusiastic as I am," Smith says, only half joking.

Smith is a member of the Connecticut Education Association's minority affairs council. And this summer, she attended her first NEA Representative Assembly. "The entire experience of the RA, from debating new business items to sharing with colleagues from around the country, makes you realize how special it is to be working together for kids and education. I'm hooked!"

Resources

If you're interested in getting involved in your Association, Gene Grooms, a staff member in NEA's Training and Development division. offers these tips:

* Volunteer to help your Association building representative.

* Attend Association leadership training sessions in your area.

* Talk to your local UniServ director about involvement opportunities.

BREAKING WITH TRADITION

By the end of September, Vicki Spring will be knee-deep into a new school year teaching in a way she's never tried before. Each morning now brings 30 students spanning third, fourth, and fifth grades to her single classroom at Trent Elementary in Spokane, Washington.

"Last year, I taught fourth and fifth graders, so I know multi-age classrooms work," says Spring. The uncertainty comes from adding in that group of third graders.

Spring and her colleague, Lori Finley, believe their students will get a challenging education in a multi-age environment. "Some things will be difficult," says Spring, "but last year I saw how the older kids helped the younger ones--the kids don't seem to think much about the age differences.

"Once they get to know each other," she adds, "they see themselves as just another class. And, some of the kids I had last year will be with me again this year, so they're used to me, and I know how they learn."

Though this is the first time Trent Elementary has tried a classroom spanning three age groups, Spring did observe similar teaching situations in other classrooms outside Spokane. "And our principal gave us several days last year to plan, so I feel we're ready to take on this challenge." For this 18-year teaching veteran, this is going to be an exciting year.

Resources

* Multi-Age Classrooms, the latest Teacher-to-Teacher book from the NEA Professional Library. $9.95 plus p&h. Call 800/229-4200. Stock number 2907-0-00-F.

* Check out NEA Online's Teaching and Learning section (Keywords: NEA Teaching or NEA Grants).

TEACHING TEACHERS

After two and a half years of teacher mentoring full time, Dave Gardner returns to the classroom this fall with 15 typed pages of new ideas for projects, activities, and instructional techniques for himself and his colleagues at Sanislo Elementary in Seattle, Washington.

"I'm amazed at how much I learned in the last few years-even from those who weren't doing so well," Gardner says. "Sometimes I would see something that I didn't think worked very well and realize it was something I used to do myself."

Gardner wasn't the only one to benefit from the Staff Training and Review program, run jointly by the Seattle Education Association and the school district.

As a mentor, he helped teachers to become reflective about their work--to ask themselves questions both when planning a lesson and afterward, and then to make adjustments for the next time. But he emphasizes that STAR is strictly a collegial program. "We don't dictate how to teach," he says.

All first-year teachers in the Seattle district must participate in the mentoring program. "That first year is such a struggle," Gardner says. "Having a colleague come in has, in many cases, been the difference between a person continuing teaching and leaving the profession altogether."

Resources

* Mentor Teacher Programs. Sandra J. Odell. NEA Professional Library. 32 pp., $3.95 plus p&h. Explains how to develop your own program. Call 800/229-4200. Stock number 1086-8-00-F.

* "Teaching the Teachers"--new episode from the Teacher TV series-highlights two different approaches to professional development, $16.95 plus p&h. Order from the NEA Professional Library, 800/2294200. Stock number 7790-3-00-F.

FIGHTING THE ESTABLISHING

"I just feel that it's time to draw the line on what teachers should be asked to do," says Kentucky special education teacher Lynn Luking. "I don't think it's a teacher's job to give students medicated suppositories."

But that's exactly what administrators at Luking's school told her to do. She refused and went to court, drawing on the support of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, the Kentucky Education Association, and the NEA.