by Mark McGowan
NIU is working to “transform the culture” of Rockford Jefferson High School, helping to make it a place where all students want to come and learn.
The goal is noble and lofty for sure, but one the federally funded Project REAL will reach incrementally over five years. It’s a strategy Jefferson reading teacher Chris Buck finds equally useful in transforming the teens in her classroom.
Buck’s students are at least two years behind in their reading abilities, so she purposely sets her expectations low enough that her pupils can and do rise to the challenge and find and enjoy success. Then, of course, Buck raises her expectations.
“NIU students get to see how students react to success,” said Buck, one of several members of the Jefferson faculty who welcome NIU’s “future teachers” into their classrooms.
The college students observe, tutor, teach, help, mentor, coach and inspire at a building where the daily dose of reality offers eye-opening lessons not taught in college methods classes.
“There’s a diverse student population at Jefferson, and they definitely have some challenges,” said Judy Cox-Henderson, coordinator of clinical experiences in the NIU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “It’s a pretty typical high school, and a good learning laboratory for our students. It’s a realistic picture of what they’re going into, and we feel welcome there. It’s a good fit.”
Funded in the fall of 2003, the five-year U.S. Department of Education grant of $4.875 million concentrates on Jefferson, the Rockford Environmental Science Academy, Nelson Elementary School and, with a focus on special education populations, Rolling Green Elementary School.
Faculty and students from five NIU colleges, including Education, Engineering and Engineering Technology, Health and Human Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences and Visual and Performing Arts, are extensively engaged in the four schools through mentoring and professional development of teachers and future school leaders.
“We need teachers who like kids, and I see that Northern kids like our kids. You shouldn’t be teaching if you don’t like kids,” Buck said. “NIU students get used to talking to normal kids who aren’t Einsteins – talking on their level – and respecting them. If you give them respect, they will give it back twofold.”
Fifty NIU undergraduates are observing classes, assisting teachers and tutoring 200 students one-on-one or in small groups during and after school. Some have asked to spend all three clinical semesters at the high school on Rockford’s southeast side.
The teenagers are responding well, Cox-Henderson said, and learning that there is life beyond high school. “A lot of Jefferson High School students think college is never going to happen for them,” Buck said. “The NIU students will talk about college, and my kids have seen college is a reality. It’s obtainable for them.”
The involvement of Rock Valley faculty and students also illuminates the community college option that could lead to four-year degrees, Cox-Henderson said. NIU and Rock Valley also are sponsoring a Future Teachers Club that focuses on minority recruitment.
“A lot of the kids we work with aren’t really enthused about school,” she said. “These are high-need kids who miss a lot of school and need a lot of support.”
Indeed, an outsider’s glimpse at a few Jefferson classes can make the challenges seem monumental.
During an algebra class, a young man casually strolls in to tell the students they “look bored” before making a quick exit. During a freshman English class, a boy presenting his research on Edward G. Robinson does not know when the legendary actor was born or the year he died. During a senior English class, a students’ comment about a poetry presentation made by three male classmates reflects only that two are wearing pink shirts.
NIU’s students are embracing the task, however.
One has started a chess club for the Jefferson teens, and new clubs are planned for students interested in reading and writing. Two are coaches for the soccer and tennis teams. Others traveled to Peoria this spring to root for the JHS basketball team during its run for the state championship.
“They feel they’re part of the school, and they’re very loyal,” Cox-Henderson said, “and that’s what we want to happen.”
Jefferson teachers are seeing results already as the first full year of partnership comes to a close.
Buck said the presence of NIU students in her classroom provides her time and freedom for more one-on-one interaction. Her students are eager for as much attention as they can get, she said, and they aren’t shy when it comes to asking any adult around to listen to them read aloud or to test their flashcard vocabulary words.
“They’ve come to expect that someone’s here to work with them, and they’re going to make them work,” she said. “I can’t even put a percentage on (their help), it’s so high. I’ve got a lot more done this year because of that.”
Jo-Ann Valdivia, who teaches math at Jefferson, said her classes sometimes enroll as many as 33 students. She does not have the time available in a 50-minute class period to answer everyone’s questions.
NIU’s future teachers help by walking among the desks to offer tips as students try to solve the numbers problems, by grading homework with time enough to explain where a student went wrong and by teaching lessons.
“I enjoy the input because, yeah, I might not have thought of that,” Valdivia said. “The more brains in the classroom, the more you can help the kids. I couldn’t ask for a better situation.”
For Jefferson teachers, the Professional Development School model provides:
“I’m definitely seeing a change in the morale of teachers,” Cox-Henderson said. “Having NIU students in their classes is a huge benefit. The teachers have conversations with our students about why they teach, and they become quite reflective.”
Valdivia said she also has borrowed teaching ideas from NIU students and brought them to her departmental meetings. “That has to be a good thing for their egos,” she said. “I’d be thrilled if a teacher told me that.”
The project also is developing the parental side of the equation.
NIU and the Jefferson teachers organized a Parents Appreciation Night, including a spaghetti dinner and lessons on how to help teens with schoolwork. Twenty families were represented, Cox-Henderson said.
“It’s a great place to start. If you want to make an impact on kids, you really need to start with their families,” Cox-Henderson said. “These parents cared enough to get their kids in tutoring and to pick them up afterward. Parental involvement and communication is one of our big goals for next year.”
NIU professors also can learn something.
Faculty gain the opportunity to teach in the high school classrooms, giving them a renewed “up-close and personal” experience they can incorporate into their methods curriculum for the next generation of teachers.
Cox-Henderson has taught classes in English and world history at Jefferson.
“It shows me what works, and what teachers can handle in terms of classroom management,” she said. “We certainly learn a lot more about the schools we’re working with, and how we train teachers. It’s a big benefit for us, and a goal for next year to get other professors into the classrooms.”
For more information on Project REAL, visit http://www.projectreal.niu.edu/projectreal/ online.
5-9-05