Small Is Beautiful, And It Pays Off
“ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE” is the gospel according to Pat Howell, a 2nd grade teacher at Burtonsville Elementary School in Maryland’s Montgomery County.
And she should know. While other local teachers were trying to get support for projects from big potential benefactors, like IBM and Apple Computers, Howell put the touch on small local businesses. Thanks to her efforts, the local TCBY frozen yogurt franchise, a Jerry’s Sub Shop, and the neighborhood’s 7-Eleven get together five times a year to provide pizza, drinks, and a sheet cake for the winners of school reading contests. The McDonald’s in town springs for a “happy meal’’ for students of the week. And a local newspaper advises the school newspaper.
“It was rare that I went to a business, and they said no,’' says Howell, who started approaching local companies last summer. “Whenever you go face to face with managers of small businesses, and they see you’re a teacher, they will do what they can. They realize that it’s their future, too, the future of their businesses. Someday, our students might work for them.’'
Howell asked many of the male businesspeople she approached if they would be willing to spend time with some boys who needed special attention. Seven said yes, and the program has blossomed into what Howell calls Project GIVE (Get Involved: Volunteer in Education). Each male mentor is teamed up with two boys in 1st through 3rd grades. The men-- including a local newspaper editor, a locksmith, a veterinarian, and the manager of a tire store--come once a week at designated times to play with Legos, make model cars, read stories, or tap away at a computer.
“Some of these boys are being brought up by their mothers,’' Howell explains. “Many need a male in their lives. Some are shy or aggressive; they need some extra attention, someone to open up to.’'
The program, she says, “gives them an opportunity to have a relationship with men at school. Once they get to school, they seldom see men.’'
Howell may never win a grant from a major corporation or a national foundation, but her willingness to think small has paid off in a big way for her students.
A Tuber For The Teacher
IT’S SITTING ON HANNAH MORVAN’s desk, a small red potato, growing softer and smellier every day. Soon, it will be studded with a gross little array of eyes.
Or so Morvan hopes. Because then, and only then, will the potato be a suitable candidate for the garbage garden, a little bit of hog heaven in Morvan’s 1st grade class in Northfield (Vt.) Elementary School.
“Anything that will sprout in your refrigerator is the kind of thing you can put in a garbage garden,’' Morvan says. “Kids can discover a disgusting potato at home, bring it into school, and watch it grow into a plant.’'
Morvan’s garden consists of a small tray of soil, lighted with two fluorescent grow lamps. Of course, garbage-- potato cuttings, carrot tops, avocado pits and the like--is not the only crop, nor, for that matter, the only project. “We also introduce them to seed studies, thinning activities, and so on,’' she says.
Trash, on the other hand, has that slimy, yucky quality that is so immensely appealing to the 1st grade mind. “They think it’s neat,’' Morvan says, “especially if they’ve initiated the garbage. They treat it with tender
loving care, make reports, and draw pictures. They like the idea that something beautiful can come from something so ugly. But they also learn something about regeneration, recycling, and the environment.’'
When Harry Pinched Sally
''YOU CALLED ME A BAD NAME!”
“You stole my pencil!’'
Third graders have been known to do battle over petty grievances such as these. In response, the teacher usually moves in like a United Nations peacekeeping force, imposing a quick, bloodless settlement on the disputants. It’s a tough job.
But Paula Steinmetz, a 32-year veteran elementary school teacher and proud owner of a law degree, believes she has a better way to resolve classroom run-ins. It’s a sixhour unit called “Mediation Works,’' which she teaches every year to her 3rd grade class at Noah Webster School in Hartford, Conn.
Steinmetz begins by asking her students to role-play a dispute. Given the usual tensions that ripple through the 3rd grade like static electricity, the students have no difficulty coming up with a grudge. Says Steinmetz: “Someone will say, ‘He hit me when I was in the hallway.’ They’re never at a loss to think of something.’'
She continues by demonstrating to her students the basics of mediation: listening and cooperation.
After the unit, when a real crisis occurs, two classroom mediators-- selected each week from among the students--approach the warring sides and ask if they want to take their complaint to mediation. If they say yes, as most do, the four students-- two mediators and two disputants-- sit together in a semicircle. The mediators then encourage each disputant, in turn, to voice his or her grievance.
“One of the mediators starts out by saying to the two disputants, ‘Please don’t interrupt, please wait your turn, and please try to reach an agreement so you’ll be friends again,’ '' Steinmetz explains. Then, each disputant takes a turn at making his or her case, with the polite encouragement of the mediators.
After all the steam is vented, one of the mediators asks if the two disputants feel better. “You wouldn’t want to go on if both the kids still felt angry,’' Steinmetz says. “Then, one of the mediators asks, ‘What can you do to prevent this from happening again in the future?’ While they answer, one of the mediators takes notes.’'
Eventually, the two reach an agreement, and the mediators transcribe those scribbled notes into a formal peace settlement. All four sign the document. “Then,’' Steinmetz says, “they shake hands.’'
It sounds a bit involved, Steinmetz admits, and, of course, some blowups still do occur from time to time. But, she says, “There’s a diminution in the number of conflicts because they learn to get along, to listen to one another, to communicate, and to care about one another. When they’re trained, the children will take care of it. I don’t always hear about it.’'
Steinmetz has taught mediation workshops to teachers throughout Connecticut, so they can teach their own children. “It’s a life skill,’' Steinmetz says. “It’s called getting along with other people, and it really requires training.’'
