|
|
|
|
 By JENNIFER TANGEMAN
Staff Writer
Few people exhibit an enthusiasm about historical artifacts as Jim Bowsher does.
When crews working for G.A. Wintzer and Son Co. started working to build new office space on West Auglaize Street, they came across some interesting finds where a rental home had previously sat.
Jim Kent and others of Kent Surveying began finding pieces of artifacts. They called in local history buff, Bowsher, to try to figure out what the bits and pieces meant.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saturday, 17 October 2009 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
A Wapakoneta Middle School teacher plans to use grant funding from the Wapakoneta Area Community Foundation to spark an interest in mathematics and science in her students.
Dawn Rankin, a 22-year teacher who has taught two years in the Wapakoneta City Schools District, presented a proposal to bring the national Science Olympiad and More program to her fifth-, sixth- and seventh- grade enrichment students. Her proposal, requesting $3,300 in start-up costs this year, was selected from other applications submitted to receive funding from the Wapakoneta Area Community Foundation at its annual meeting.
“I want them to know the value of science, technology, engineering and math,” Rankin said. “There are a lot of important and exciting career opportunities in those fields and the U.S. is really low in offering education on that. Science inspiration is on the decline.”
She said in addition to helping students explore the fields as career opportunities the program also provides the ability for tracking them starting with the time they start the lessons to the end of their time at the Wapakoneta Middle School and even into Wapakoneta High School to see what kind of impact they are having and how many students may be choosing to go into that as a career.
Science Olympiad also holds regional competitions for students where they not only learn about different topics, but work on speeches and presentations with topics changing annually.
This year topics are expected to include anatomy, disease control and meteorology. Projects range from giving step-by-step instructions on how to do something and creating a buggy for an egg.
Rankin plans to serve as the adviser to the extra-curricular team, in addition to working on the program with gifted students during enrichment time.
She plans also to share the information with other teachers and continue the program into the future as having money for start up costs was the major hindrance.
“A lot of the supplies we can re-use,” Rankin said. “This is really helpful in getting our feet wet.”
She said in the future, costs could be rather limited except for $100 fees to compete in regional Science Olympiad competitions.
“I’m really grateful to the foundation, that they see the importance in what we are doing,” Rankin said.
She was the lone recipient of an educator grant from the foundation this year, but two teachers, who each received $5,000 for programs they wanted to bring into the classroom also talked with members of the Foundation at the meeting about how their educational efforts paid off.
“The outstanding educator grant was created to recognize teachers in the Wapakoneta School system,” said Gary Sheipline, a trustee for the Wapakoneta Community Foundation.
“How many kids we touch through this, we don’t even know,” he said of its widespread range.
He said all teachers are eligible to apply for the annual grants through a 3-page online application. Teachers request the amount of money they need for specific projects.
Melissa Hilty, a reading teacher at Cridersville Elementary School, said the Orton Gillingham Phonics program she purchased with her grant last year went way beyond what she ever imagined.
Additional funding was able to get at least 14 other teachers, not only from Cridersville, but from Centennial Elementary and other area school districts involved in the concepts of the program so they could use them in their classrooms. Even more teachers became familiar with the phonics program after that as those original teachers shared it with others.
“It changes how we introduce letters to children,” Hilty said.
Using phonics, students through this program form both jibberish and real words, they use stacks of cards, write letters with their fingers in trays of sand, and use popsicle sticks to answer questions. A book “Recipe for Reading,” provides a wide range of ideas for teachers to introduce letters to the students.
“Kids learn in so many different ways and as a teacher we need to teach to all different styles,” Hilty said. “I’ve seen kids grow beyond what I could ever imagine with this.”
She talked about how it changed students’ perspectives, making them excited and wanting to learn and come to school every day.
For students now in second-grade, who began the program as kindergarteners, Hilty said none are on IEPs (Individualized Educational Program).
“It’s neat to see the kids succeed,” Hilty said through tears as she talked about other students she had worked with before and their frustration learning to read.
Wapakoneta Middle School teacher Anne Niemeyer also received a grant from the foundation last year to create a cultural museum in her classroom.
She addressed the ways it has made learning come to life for students.
“I’ve evolved as a teacher,” the seventh-grade social studies teacher said. “I really wanted the kids to feel history, to know it’s not dead. It is totally alive and what you make of it.
“I want them to remember what they learn when they leave,” she said.
Niemeyer said she spent a lot of time deciding what items to purchase and how best to spend the money to create the museum that is to be passed on to future social studies teachers in the district.
From helmets and coins to chainmail armor and shoes that bound Chinese women’s feet to 3-inches, Niemeyer said she was able to purchase more than three spreadsheets worth of items for the museum through the grant.
Using some of the pieces she said students can conduct “Time Scene Investigations” to piece together history.
“I am very excited,” Niemeyer told Foundation members at their dinner. “I always have students stopping in after school. You’ve made me and the kids excited.”
|
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 19 October 2009 )
|
|
|
|
