Teaching about teachers
Lesson plan: Education isn’t a 9-to-5 job.
Sunday News
Apr 02, 2011 23:32
By MANDY STOLTZFUS, Staff Writer
Heidi Marshall was doing what she does on a normal Saturday: grading papers, creating lesson plans, writing notes to students and drinking Diet Pepsi.
Except this time she was surrounded by other teachers doing the same things in the middle of the busy food court at Park City Center.
Marshall and several other teachers from the Manheim Township, Warwick and Hempfield school districts decided to do their weekend work at the mall for the shopping public to see.
"Teaching is a passion, not just a profession," Marshall said.
"This is not a protest. We just want people to see that teaching never stops. It is our life," she said.
The teachers sat at tables with their laptop computers, grade books and stacks of papers to read and grade. Marshall spread word of the event by Facebook and by word of mouth.
The teachers had little signs on each table that read, "I am a teacher, ask me what I am doing."
Amid the familiar food court smells of pizza, Chinese food and french fries, shoppers and Saturday mall-dwellers stopped and asked.
"Teachers spend countless hours above and beyond the school day," Marshall said. "You can't just punch a clock."
Marshall is a fifth-grade teacher at Bucher Elementary School. Her father and grandfather were teachers. Her son is studying history and considering becoming a teacher.
"I told him, you won't ever make a lot of money, but you will be rewarded in so many better ways," Marshall said.
The negativity surrounding teachers in recent news is the main reason why Marshall said she felt compelled to do something proactive.
The women are concerned about Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed cuts to school funding and the difficult decisions many schools will have to make in the coming months on programs and personnel.
"Politicians are sending out an anti-school message and as teachers we remain quiet and professional," said Jackie Lerch, of Elizabethtown, a Manheim Township Middle School reading specialist.
"We need support from our communities. We want people to talk to us."
Lerch entered the profession after being inspired by her second-grade teacher.
"Mrs. Summerville completely changed my life," Lerch said. "As a teacher you never know how far down the road you can influence someone."
Shareen Burkhardt, who was studying versions of "The Diary of Anne Frank," teaches seventh- and eighth-grade reading at Manheim Township Middle School. She has to make separate lesson plans based on the needs of her students, who are all at different reading levels.
She creates study guides and virtual field trips so students can use technology that they understand to learn better.
"Teaching is Monday through Sunday," Burkhardt said. "It's all the time. But I do my job because I love it."
The teachers want to keep meeting at the mall and to function as a support group for each other.
"We learn so much from each other," Burkhardt said. "It's very much about collaborating."
Burkhardt studied the books on her lap and worked on her lesson plans.
"It's never done," Burkhardt said, of a teachers' work. "But really it's about the seeds you plant.
"Behind a lot of stories are a teacher that affected someone's life."
Mandy Stoltzfus is a Sunday News staff writer. Email her at mstoltzfus@lnpnews.com.
Read more: http://articles.lancasteronline.com/local/4/370135#ixzz1JSMo97Y0
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