FACETS
June 2017 The magazine for women.
Shahidi creates an ‘anything goes’ movement environment Hannah Bolen on being a rookie teacher Morrical brought a joyful noise to three Story County schools
FACETS 2 | FACETS | JUNE 2017
The magazine for women. Editor Margo Niemeyer
Publisher SCOTT ANDERSON
Contributors MARLYS BARKER AUSTIN CANNON AUSTIN HARRINGTON RONNA LAWLESS DAN MIKA GRAYSON SCHMIDT
Tribune Editor MICHAEL CRUMB
Photographs AUSTIN HARRINGTON RONNA LAWLESS DAN MIKA FACETS IS A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF GATEHOUSE MEDIA IOWA HOLDINGS.
ADVERTISERS To advertise in Facets magazine, contact Tiffany Hilfiker at (515) 663-6973 PHONE (515) 663-6923 ADDRESS 317 Fifth St. Ames, IA, 50010 EMAIL mniemeyer@amestrib.com ONLINE www.amestrib.com/sections/ special-sections/facets
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his issue of Facets — women in education — is my favorite. Well, I have a lot of favorites, but this issue strikes a certain chord. Through my life I have been influenced by many of my teachers. Some of them I can remember the specific moments. With other teachers, it was a mashup of multiple small moments that left a positive mark on who I have become and how my personal views throughout my life have been formed. One moment I remember very clearly, and which means a great deal to me, is the day I was taught how to make choices on my own. That day I was talked through how to think about what I want, what I need and how each outcome of the a choice might impact my future. I was in fourth grade trying to decide if I wanted to continue tap dancing or try out gymnastics for a year — I was only allowed to do one. I can’t remember why it was such an earth-shattering decision for me, but I was having a terrible time with it. The year before — grade three — my teacher, Mrs. Donna DeKraai, taught us about making choices and how they can effect the people around us. That year she left a mark on me only a teacher can. So
when I went to my mom with my dilemma, she suggested I call Mrs. DeKraai. So there I was, bawling on the phone to my third grade teacher, pouring out my heartache. She talked me through what I might gain from gymanstics and how it would be a new experience. In that conversation she taught me to thing critically about my options. She helped me realize that if I don’t like gymnastics very much I can always go back to tap dance. Now as a 27-year-old woman, that seems like a no-brainer. But at the time I was a tearyeyed 10-year-old. This woman means so much to me. Every time I come to a difficult decision Mrs. DeKraai comes to mind and the way she had a respectful conversation with a 10-yearold. I don’t know what her night was like — maybe she was busy, maybe she wasn’t. I do know that it felt like she was prepared to spend however long I need to feel good about the decision I was faced with. To all teachers, past, present and future, thank you for making your mark. You may not know you have made that mark until you get a phone call from a conflicted student needing assistance only a teacher can give.
On the cover: Nevada Physical Education teacher Tori Shahidi is dressed for Pirate Day, a day when her classes get to “swab the poop deck” and so much more. Contributed Photo
FACETS • Table of contents Stephanie Myers teaches a f fth grade class at Edwards Elementary School in Ames. Myers attempts to help children become critical thinkers by showing them the impact of issues, instead of just memorizing facts. Photo by Austin Harrington/ Ames Tribune
women in the military 4
Tori Shahidi
Spunky P.E. teacher creates an ‘anything goes’ movement environment
7
Rachel Krofta
Unique route to education provides resource for Ames Middle School
8
Gina Isebrands
10
Stephanie Myers
‘When it f nally clicks, it’s pretty cool’: Gina Isebrands on 30 years in teaching Myers f nds passion in teaching while urging kids to think for themselves
13 14 18 20 24 29
Camille Helgeson
The Meeker Book Lady
Katelin Trautmann
Trautmann encourages taking risks to gain knowledge
Hannah Bolen
From one classroom to another: Bolen on being a rookie teacher
Tammy Dickinson-Ferrell
Continuing education: From student to teacher
Amanda Starrett
The art of teaching
Sharon Morrical
Morrical brought a joyful noise to three Story County schools
FACETS | JUNE 2017 | 3
women in education
4 | FACETS | JUNE 2017
Nevada elementary Physical Education instructor Tori Shahidi, of Ames, comes up next to third grade student, Brody Maiefski, while doing a soccer ball exercise to music. Photo by Marlys Barker/GateHouse Iowa
women in education
Spunky P.E. teacher creates an ‘anything goes’ movement environment
BY MARLYS BARKER GateHouse Iowa
Y
ou never know what you’re going to find in one of Tori Shahidi’s elementary physical education classes. Her classes, like her, are full of high energy, fun, movement and surprises. It was no surprise, however, that Shahidi became a P.E. teacher. “It’s all I ever wanted to do,” she said with a smile and a shrug. Perhaps that’s because while growing up in Ames, she loved hanging out with her father, Jim Stilwell, who taught physical education at Meeker School for 35 years. “I was with him a lot … did a lot of open gyms,” she said, and she got to know all the other P.E. teachers and coaches along the way. “There wasn’t a day of school or high school that I wasn’t around P.E. teachers and P.E.,” Shahidi said. After some years of not teaching and being a stay-athome mom — she has three sons, Toran and Tavan, both in college now and playing catcher on their college baseball teams, and one, Tynan, a junior at Ames High and also a baseball player — Shahidi, 52, couldn’t wait for the opportunity to be back in a gym working with kids. When a part-time physical education job opened at Nevada Middle School about six years ago, Shahidi asked a Nevada teacher, who knew her, if he’d put in a good word for her. He did, and whether that mattered or not, she got the job. Not long after, Nevada had a full-time P.E. opening at the elementary level and Shahidi had the opportunity to go to that position. “I love elementary P.E.,” she said. Maybe it’s because younger kids have imaginations equally vivid to Shahidi’s and therefore don’t question when she has crazy “holiday and special day” activities for class time. Take for instance, Pirate Day, where she dressed up like a pirate and her students got to do things like throw “cannon” balls at sharks (which are Pringles cans with stuffed animal heads on them); “swab the poop deck” by pushing tennis balls around with mops; and have sword fights with styrofoam noodles on a balance beam. She laughs remembering the first time she showed them how to fight on the balance beam with a foam swimming noodle. She showed them how they can “whack” each other. “You should have seen them look at me!” When asked about her budget for P.E, — and does she wish she had more money — she shrugs again with
Nevada Physical Education teacher Tori Shahidi is dressed for Pirate Day, a day when her classes get to “swab the poop deck” and so much more. Contributed Photo
a smile and said she doesn’t let budgets bother her. She has what she needs and if she doesn’t, she’ll create it from stuff she has. She brings old toys and things from home and figures out ways to make them useful in her classroom. Old brooms, old food containers, old stuffed animals — these things and more have a new place when it comes to Shahidi-style P.E. Sometimes over the past several years, the crazy, free-spirited teacher has made her student teachers a little uncomfortable with the “interesting” things she does in P.E., or sometimes elsewhere in the building, like when she organized a school-wide flash mob a year back. “But (the student teachers) leave here loving it, and they MOVEMENT, page 6 FACETS | JUNE 2017 | 5
women in education MOVEMENT continued from page 5
all teach elementary P.E.,” she said. The last two years, Shahidi took the reins for Go the Distance Day, which is an annual May event for the elementary kids, kindergarten through fourth grade. Last year she added lots of new events and showed the people passing by the old practice field across from Gates Hall or the elementary playground (where events were held), the creative forces that drive this teacher. While she kept a few traditional activities, like a hurdle relay and a few other common races, most of the activities that day combined silly fun and life skills, along with movement. There was a canoe portaging race, where teams worked together to push their canoes a certain distance, go around a cone and then bring them back, all with a classmate on board. There was the clothes hanging/laundry race, where children ran to a clothesline and used clothes pins to hang up clothing items and then hurried back to the line. There were contests for the older kids, who learned about and then set up tents as fast as they could. There was a beach race, where kids tried to quickly put on their beach attire, like flip flops, sunglasses and hats. “We had so many things that day … it really blew people’s minds,” Shahidi laughed. Kids and adults at the elementary school were looking forward to and wondering what Shahidi would plan for this year’s Go the Distance Day, which was held on May 19 for first through fourth grades, and a week later for the kindergartners. All in all, what it truly boils down to for Shahidi is movement, and bringing all forms of movement to kids, so they know that they can incorporate movement in their lives and know that exercise doesn’t have to be boring or hard. And while there are a few sports units that she teaches, Shahidi said it’s not her job as an elementary P.E. teacher to make athletes out of these kids. “I’m not gearing my class to organized sports; I’m not trying to be a feeder program for sports. Kids who are in organized sports — they are already getting (fitness). The kids not in those (organized sports) need this even more. P.E.’s a life skill, and movement is the key. If you’re not moving, you won’t move,” she said. Today’s world is different than the world her dad taught in, but Shahidi still learned from her dad. “My dad was high activity,” she said. He just did more traditional activities to keep kids on the move. Stilwell, who now lives at Green Hills Retirement Community, is proud of his P.E.-teaching daughter and the way she inspires the kids around her. “He stops in here many days to watch me teach. He just loves it,” Shahidi said. Even her mom, Gene Johnson, a Realtor in Ames, pops in when she has an appointment in Nevada; and Shahidi’s boyfriend for the past eight years, Larry Kelley of Nevada, stops in occasionally, too. “(Larry) just loves that it makes my day to be here at the gym,” she said. It does make her day to be with the young students and to use her love of movement, creativity and fun in a way that can inspire children to want to be healthy. Shahidi gets a bit emotional when she thinks back to how lucky she was to get that part-time middle school position in Nevada. It was a time in her life, when she said, “I knew I needed something so bad, and I think they (at Nevada) really needed another motivated physical education teacher like me.” She feels she has joined an excellent physical education team at Nevada and has nothing but respect for the other P.E. teachers in the district and what all of them do to try to keep kids moving. “I really love it here. God had a plan. I’m so thankful I’m here.” 6 | FACETS | JUNE 2017
women in education
Krofta’s unique route to education provides resource for Ames Middle School
BY GRAYSON SCHMIDT GateHouse Iowa
R My training in my social work experience was very strength-based, so f nding strengths that the family or students have, and drawing on those strengths to remove barriers that they might be facing. I think that applies a lot in the work that I do now with students, f nding out what’s working, what resources they have, and using that for problem-solving.
achel Krofta did not always know that her route would lead her to education, just towards helping others. But it is her experience as a social worker that she said has allowed her to transition bring a different viewpoint to her current role as the Eighth Grade Counselor at Ames Middle School. “My training in my social work experience was very strength-based, so finding strengths that the family or students have, and drawing on those strengths to remove barriers that they might be facing,” Krofta said. “I think that applies a lot in the work that I do now with students, finding out what’s working, what resources they have, and using that for problem-solving.” After graduating from Iowa State, Krofta spent two years as a social worker in Des Moines, where she said her experiences working with families got her interested in pursuing a career in education. “I realized I could get to every kid in a community if I worked in the school, instead of just a few that we referred to our program,” Krofta said. Part of her job as the eighth grade counselor is to help kids prepare for high school, and providing support during what can be a tough transition period. Krofta said that her social work background comes into play by focusing on what the family needs to ensure the child’s success, rather than simply what is happening at the school. However, she said that she enjoys her role as counselor, because it allows her to take a proactive stance and reach out to students, rather than having families assigned to her program when she was a social worker. Being a counselor allows her to get to know students better and be able to reach out to them before a crisis situation can arise. “We can be proactive in preventing a lot of issues if we have relationships with the kids,” Krofta said.
Krofta has been the counselor for over five years, after she decided to leave social work and pursue her master’s degree in school counseling from Drake University, which she said placed a strong emphasis on mental health, something that she said the Ames Community School District puts on emphasis on as well. “As a social worker with just my bachelor’s degree, I had no skills to address those kind of things,” Krofta said. “I could only refer them to other places where they could get help with that, and I think that through my master’s program I learned a lot more about mental health.” In addition to gaining experience with mental health, and the way home life affects people’s daily behavior, Krofta said that working as a social worker made herself stronger, and taught her how to better empathize with those in a completely different situation that your own. “You learn a lot about taking care of yourself as a social worker, and setting boundaries,” Krofta said. “I would never know about the struggles families face, had I not had that role with them.” FACETS | JUNE 2017 | 7
women in education
Gina Isebrands. Photo by Dan Mika/GateHouse Iowa BY DAN MIKA GateHouse Iowa
“When it f nally clicks, it’s pretty cool”: Gina Isebrands on 30 years in teaching G ina Isebrands has a soft spot for the hardest part of her job. Isebrands, a kindergarten teacher at Fellows Elementary School, has spent 30 years of her life as a teacher, with 25 of them in the Ames Community School District, and she’s kept going because of her love of helping even the toughest of students overcome their academic or emotional struggles. Isebrands has spent most of her life working with kids. She babysat her sisters as a child, was a counselor at a day camp in high school and nannied her tennis coaches’ children in college. She started her career teaching middle school English in a Chicago suburb despite
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wanting to work with younger children. “It was a job,” she said. “I interviewed for the second grade job and they offered the seventh grade job, and when you’re out of college you take the job.” She later came to Iowa to study at Iowa State University and student teach at the Urbandale Community School District for a few years. She later married, got her master’s degree at the College of St. Scholastica in Minnesota and moved back to Ames to teach kindergarten. Isebrands said every child has different strengths and challenges to overcome, but ultimately, they want to please their teachers and learn how to engage with the world.
women in education “We’re talking about summer and they’re like, ‘I don’t want summer,’ and they don’t get the timeframe of it,” she said. She specifically focuses on making her classroom a safe environment for students, and herself, to fail in so they can learn from the failures. She often makes “mistakes on purpose,” laughing at herself alongside her students and encouraging them to not take them to heart. “I just want them to know that nobody’s perfect, and we have to try the best that we can,” she said. That sentiment rings true in Isebrands’ classroom, especially for students behind their peers academically or emotionally. For most of the interview, Isebrands wore a button of a boy in a baseball uniform. She explained it was one of her pupils diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia and anger issues. Isebrands has spent much of the year working with the student one-on-one, even clearing the room of other students so he could focus better. He gave her the button as a thank-you token. “He has a soft place in my heart,” she said. “He just got under my skin in a good way.” She recommends students and new teachers develop that same level of empathy and patience as they prepare to start their own careers. She referenced one of her current students who had to repeat kindergarten and came in frustrated with himself. Now, as the district approaches its last days of school, he has developed the ability to read and make sentences and now wants to constantly write and share his works with fellow students. “If (a struggling student) sees someone that’s reading better and they get frustrated, be compassionate with them and take things slowly with those ones that are struggling,” she said. “When
“If (a struggling student) sees someone that’s reading better and they get frustrated, be compassionate with them and take things slowly with those ones that are struggling. When it f nally clicks, it’s pretty cool.”
it finally clicks, it’s pretty cool.” Isebrands said the biggest change she’s seen in the field over her three decades in school is the deep structuralization of every child’s day. She said students’ days are often planned down to the minute by school districts looking to stay in line with Common Core principles and are later bogged down by homework and after-school activities. Isebrands laments the days where students had more time to play, and thinks many of emotional issues children face today could be resolved with more outside recess time. To fight this, Isebrands tries to add periods of playtime throughout her day or on Fridays, allowing her students to paint, craft, play and even do a round of yoga. She believes working that time into her week improves their focus and makes them better students in the long run. “They’re so much more interested in this,” she said, motioning her thumbs as if controlling a video game controller. “They don’t get to experience that,” she said, pointing to her classroom’s large windows.
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women in education
Stephanie Myers teaches a fifth grade class at Edwards Elementary School in Ames. Myers attempts to help children become critical thinkers by showing them the impact of issues, instead of just memorizing facts. Photo by Austin Harrington/GateHouse Iowa
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women in education BY AUSTIN HARRINGTON GateHouse Iowa
Stephanie Myers teaches a fifth grade class at Edwards Elementary School in Ames. Myers attempts to help children become critical thinkers by showing them the impact of issues, instead of just memorizing facts. Photo by Austin Harrington/GateHouse Iowa
Myers find passion in teaching while urging kids to think for themselves
I
n six years of teaching fifth grade at Edwards Elementary School in Ames, Stephanie Myers says her mission has remained unchanged. “It comes with it’s challenges, but I really do love what I do,” Myers said. “I especially love the grade that I teach and the content I get to teach in fifth grade.” Even though Myers has a passion for education and
teaching now, she said that she didn’t plan on becoming an educator until later in her college experience. She said she bounced around from a few different majors, “Just not really knowing what I wanted to do.” That soul searching led to Myers leaving Iowa State Myers, page 12 FACETS | JUNE 2017 | 11
women in education MYERS continued from page 11
University, where she was studying, to take some time and find her passion. “The thought of teaching was always in the back of my mind but it always terrified me to think of that amount of responsibility for that many young lives. Not just teaching them, but the impact I could have on them,” Myers said. Eventually, Myers made peace with her fears and pursued a degree that allowed her to teach, but the weight of the impact she can have has stayed with her. “That hasn’t changed, I think it’s a huge responsibility,” Myers said. Myers grew up in Sioux City, but stayed in Ames after college. She’s been in the city for about 10 years now and she said it’s become her home. “I enjoy it here,” Myers said. But what really keeps her in Ames is the work that she does. “I’m very passionate about what I get to teach and student learning, especially when it comes to creating thinkers. I spend a lot of time talking about how we need to understand concepts and not just memorizing. So whether it’s math or literacy or social studies, I want them to be able to think
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deeply about it and to be critical thinkers,” Myers said. According to her, it’s just as important to be able to find the answers as it is to ask the questions in her class. “I really think that that will help them in their lifetime,” Myers said. “Because I’m so passionate about what I teach, when I provide opportunities for them, they become passionate and they’re excited and engaged.” Myers said that’s the moment she hopes for, but she’s the first to admit that it doesn’t always go that way. “That doesn’t happen all the time because not everything I teach they’re in love with,” Myers said. “So that’s the challenged too, to try to get them excited about adding fractions.” To inspire critical thinking about real world events, Myers said she tries to bring in current events to discuss with her class. “We like the overall concept of things. Like, we do the American Revolution and the Civil War, but we really want them to understand war in general and not just memorizing dates and people that they are going to forget,” Myers said. So to help children reach that level of understanding, Myers tries to focus on the impact of those wars, not just on what caused them. “So we do some current issues when appropriate,” Myers said. To help kids understand those types of difficult issues, Myers eases them into it by building a community in her classroom where the kids can feel secure and confident in their ideas. “Starting in the beginning of the year, we spend a lot of time building that community and trust, so we’re not throwing these complex issues at them from the very beginning,” Myers said. “So, hopefully creating that safe environment.” Another way trust is built within her classroom is by helping kids learn to collaborate and work as a team. “In the classroom, that’s another one of my missions,” Myers said. “To try to help them learn what it actually looks like to collaborate, to have a discussion with someone, to change their thinking, not just partner work.” Myers said that by teaching children to work together, they are more prepared for the discussions and negotiations they will take part in as adults. “Coming in with different ideas and different beliefs and how can we honor that and still carry our own thinking. So I think collaboration within my own professional life and in the classroom with the students is a big part of what I try to do,” Myers said.
women in education
The Meeker Book Lady C
amille Helgeson’s first-grade classroom at Meeker Elementary School holds so many books. Thousands of them surround a square rug in the back-left corner — the book room. “I’m kind of known as the Book Lady at Meeker,” she said. Literacy was her area of concentration while she was in college, and that focus has lived on over her 25 years in the Ames Community School District, 18 of which she’s spent teaching first graders. That’s a lot of books. “Every year I’m going to say I don’t need any more, but then these cute books come out and then I have to buy them,” she said with a laugh. But that extra cost is worth it. “I love listening to the kids read,” Helgeson said. “A lot of them just want to read to me all the time. ... I just love hearing them and the progress they make.” Her father was the biggest influence to leading her to pursue a career in teaching. He spent 37 years in education, teaching Latin and English before serving as a guidance counselor and administrator. After graduating from Upper Iowa University, Helgeson found herself in Ames, where she’s stayed for the last quarter of a century, initially teaching kindergartners before settling in at first grade. “The thing that keeps me going ever day is they are so loving, so forgiving ... Everything is so new to them,” she said. Her students are also, perhaps predictably, susceptible to a groan-worthy April Fool’s joke. This year after telling them
she brought them brownies, Helgeson showed them the cut out letters on their desks. They were brown. “And they’re like, ‘What is this?’ I said, ‘Well, it’s a brown E,’” she retold, assuring that the kids eventually received actual brownies. (Baking is one of Helgeson’s favorite pastimes when she’s outside the classroom. So is going to see her husband’s band, Burnin’ Sensations). Along with the books, the fun and the constant music coming from the speakers against the wall, Helgeson tries to provide an environment of acceptance, treating students the way she’d want her own daughter to be treated. “All kids do want the same thing,” she said. “They want to be loved, they want to feel they’re loved and cared for. They want to be heard. They want the same things adults want.” Helgeson has seen a lot over her 25 years — district transformation, helicopter parents, behavioral issues — but first graders are still first graders. They’re still trying to figure everything out, which sometimes includes, as their teacher describes, realizing their birthdays actually mark the days
“I love listening to the kids read. A lot of them just want to read to me all the time. ... I just love hearing them and the progress they make.”
BY AUSTIN CANNON GateHouse Iowa
they were born. “They’re just so sweet and innocent,” Helgeson said. “They make me giggle everyday with something.” Sometimes the students return years after leaving her classroom. Helgeson will receive invitations to high school graduations, and some have told her that they’re also considering careers in education. One of her former students even came back from Mexico, saying he returned to Iowa wanting to see two things: snow and his first-grade teacher. A Tuesday in early May marked Teacher Appreciation Day, and Helgeson had a stack of cards and drawings sitting behind her desk. One of the girls in her class even gave her a small box that contained a plastic gemstone necklace, which her teacher wore all day. “It’s just a very rewarding career,” Helgeson said. “I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing.” FACETS | JUNE 2017 | 13
women in education
Katelin Trautmann has taught in Ames for more than five years and is currently working with fifth grade students at Edwards Elementary School. Photo by Austin Harrington/GateHouse Iowa BY AUSTIN HARRINGTON GateHouse Iowa
Trautmann encourages taking risks to gain knowledge W
ith two generations of teachers coming before her, some would say that Katelin Trautmann was destined to be an elementary educator. Trautmann is in her sixth year of teaching in Ames and is currently working with a fifth grade class at Edwards Elementary School. “I love fifth grade. They’re a fun age because they are independent in a certain way, but they are still little kids at heart, so they’re still fun and sweet,” Trautmann said. With Trautmann’s father and grandmother both being former teachers, she said that she came by her love of education naturally. But that’s not what keeps her devoted 14 | FACETS | JUNE 2017
to her students and their education. “The reason that I remain an educator is just because I believe in education. I believe in public schools,” Trautmann said. “They kind of exemplify society in a smaller way. I think there are a lot of things in our society and in our world that need to be changed and need to be improved upon and I think education is the way to do that.” To change the world from the classroom, Trautmann urges students to be knowledgeable on current events. According to Trautmann, the current political environment in the country has caused kids to raise many
women in education questions that she attempts to answer in class. “I have fifth graders, they’re 11-years-old. They’re very aware. Obviously, they have a lot of misconceptions as well. But they are curious, they want to ask questions, they’re interested in what’s going on politically,” Trautmann said. She said that during the last election she had a tough time navigating through some of the tougher questions, because she also has to make sure not to cross over into a personal perspective, since those beliefs may not be shared by the parents of children in her class. “You can really easily tell where a parent stands based on what their kid comes to school and says,” Trautmann said. “Even though it was challenging to navigate, I think it gave us an in to talk about some challenging issues and allow our students to explore multiple perspectives and in that way it’s kind of been an exciting year.” Trautmann said that she has tried to use these tough topics to push kids into being more open to the perspectives of others and various points of view. She said that focus remains the same, even as the topics change from year to year. “We’re constantly adapting it every year, because we want to make it meaningful for the kids and so our standards might not change but we like to adjust and be able to make connections and bring in things that are going on
right now,” Trautmann said. “Because generally you get a little more buy in, too, when you are talking about things that actually impact them today.” While her goals are mostly focused on a quality education and improving the knowledge base of children in her class, Trautmann said that her mission relies heavily on creating a comfortable environment for kids to learn. “The biggest thing for me, particularly as I’m starting the year, is to really think about … creating a safe place for kids and I think a place where kids feel a sense of community, they feel welcome, they feel valued,” Trautmann said. According to her, that allows children to take risks, which is essential to a quality education, Trautmann said. “I think that when kids feel like they have a voice and they feel like they’re valued and when they have a say in how things go, I think then they can take risks,” Trautmann said. “I don’t know that learning can happen at any age if you’re not willing to take a risk.” Above all else, that is what Trautmann wants to give to children, the ability to learn. “My mission is just to create people who love to learn, to create lifelong learners, to create kids who are interested in things and kids that have questions and kids who think critically about things,” Trautmann said. “It’s less about skills and more about thinking.”
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women in education
Hannah Bolen. Contributed photo
From one classroom to another: Hannah Bolen on being a rookie teacher
BY DAN MIKA GateHouse Iowa
A
t the time this article was written, Hannah Bolen was only three days out of school. She can’t wait to go back. Bolen is one of the thousands of graduates that walked the stage at Iowa State’s graduation ceremony last month, and is among the 90,000 education majors the National Center for Education Statistics estimates will graduate from college this year. She’ll start her first job as a teacher later this year in Clinton, Iowa. working with first-graders. Bolen’s love of teaching came from working with high school students with varying levels of disabilities as a
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high schooler herself. She said helping those students reach their own potential was satisfying and addicting. “I fell in love with the light bulb moments,” she said. “I get the pleasure of facilitating an environment where a student can thrive, and not only thrive, but come in engaged every day and be excited to learn something.” She said preparing students to find their own passions and to think about how the world around them works gives them the tools they need to become successful later in their lives. She describes the feeling before her first job in the classroom as a “healthy nervousness,” driving her as she
women in education builds lesson plans. It makes her dot every I, cross every T and make sure she is as prepared as possible when her pupils arrive on the first day of class. “But you can’t plan everything,” she said. “That’s what makes the job exciting. Every moment can be different.” Bolen summed up her advice to parents sending their children to rookie teachers with one word: patience. She said while it’s her job to teach the students, she is also learning from them, and the teacher ultimately wants to make their first year as successful as possible for everyone. She also suggests establishing open lines of communication with teachers early so parents and educators can work together as much as possible when developing a strategy for the student. As for her peers still in school, Bolen suggests taking internships and real-world learning opportunities before graduation as they allow stuHannah Bolen with a group of dents to develop their own strat- students in the classroom. Contributed photo egies under the eye of a more experienced teacher. She also said to not be afraid of professor generation of educators at the office hours. university level. “You don’t even need to go in But until then, Bolen said if you need help with something, she’s going to focus on celebratgo in and get to know your proing every win in the classroom, fessor,” she said. “That’s a way no matter how small it is in the you can build overall scheme You don’t even need a relationship of a child’s that will last education. to go in if you need for a very long “It’s often help with something, time and they easy in educago in and get to know have so much tion to notice the experience and your professor. That’s broken pieces in wisdom to offer a way you can build a the system or to to you.” notice a student relationship that will Bolen plans you have to send last for a very long time home to maybe to return to school after and they have so much a home environa year in the experience and wisdom ment that is not classroom to safe,” she said. work towards a to offer to you. “When you can master’s degree look back and in educational leadership or dwell on those small victories curriculum. She’s also consider- you saw in the classroom … ing a doctoral degree to get her those are really what gets you more qualified to teach the next through.” FACETS | JUNE 2017 | 19
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A box full of novels await next year’s students. Photo by Ronna Lawless/ GateHouse Iowa
women in education
Continuing education: From student to teacher
BY RONNA LAWLESS GateHouse Iowa
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hen Tammy Dickinson-Ferrell was a student at Roland-Story High School, one of her sophomore reading assignments was John Knowles’ coming-of-age novel, “A Separate Peace.” “And I’ve read it every single year since then,” she said. Now a literature teacher at Roland-Story, Dickinson-Ferrell assigns that same book — in many cases, literally the same books — to her students. “The kids really do like it,” she said. “I encourage my students to look for the same books their parents read when they were students here,” she said. “The names of former students who read them are written inside the cover. There’s a real sense of continuity to reading a book that has your parent’s name there, written in their teenage handwriting.” There’s a sense of continuity to Dickinson-Ferrell herself. So filled with Norsemen pride that she returned to her alma mater as an instructor, she clearly takes pride in continuing traditions of the past while embracing modern technology and changes in teaching methods. She continues to have her students read “Our Town,” much as she and her peers did at the same age. “’Our Town’ has such a beautiful message, reminding us to stop and appreciate things in our lives — to be mindful,” she said. “It’s not just reading a book that’s important, it’s finding the message.” “To Kill a Mockingbird” is on the syllabus as are William Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” “Julius Caesar” and “Hamlet.” “Catcher in the Rye,” “Brave New World” and “The Great Gatsby” are still classroom staples and student favorites. Although Roland-Story wasn’t Dickinson-Ferrell’s first teaching job, it was pretty close. After graduating from Iowa State University in 1988, she taught kindergarten in Ankeny for a year. Judging by the expression on her face when she talks about it, teaching kindergarten was not for her. But when the high school literature teaching opportunity arose in Story City, it was a perfect fit. “When I started here as a new teacher, the support I felt from the other teachers and the principal and superintendent was wonderful,” she said. As long-time literature teacher Virginia Meeks was retiring, she shared her notes and lesson plans with Dickinson-Ferrell. “It was nice to come in and already have that support system,” Dickinson-Ferrell said. Plus, she was just a door away from the rest of the
teachers in the department. “That collaboration was so crucial,” she said. “For a first-year teacher, there is a terror that is hard to describe. There are 360 things in your classroom that can kill you — literally and figuratively — and those fellow teachers offer an amazing safety net.” “The staff here is like a family,” she added. “Lots of places say that, but it’s really true here at Roland-Story.” Continuing her love of fine arts, Dickinson-Ferrell is also the high school speech coach and the leader of the self-proclaimed “GEEKs” as well as an unofficial Fine Arts Club, which involves an ISU program called On Stage. On Stage allows high school seniors in the program to attend free shows at the Iowa State Center. On Stage includes a lecture from a professor prior to shows like “Once,” Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Ukrainian symphony and “The Giver,” then allows the group to meet with the cast afterward. And while it’s great to be an audience member, DICKINSON-FERRELL, page 23 FACETS | JUNE 2017 | 21
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In mid-April at the Speech Awards Breakfast, Grant Braun was named Outstanding Senior. Grant has been active both large group and individual speech for all four years and was selected for All State in Solo Musical Theatre. Contributed photo 22 | FACETS | JUNE 2017
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One entire wall and a portion of a second wall in the Roland-Story High School auditorium are lined with All State Speech banners earned during Tammy Dickinson-Ferrell’s tenure. Photo by Ronna Lawless/GateHouse Iowa DICKINSON-FERRELL continued from page 21
Dickinson-Ferrell’s students are keenly interested in the performance side of things. “We had a great year in speech. It was a great year to be a ‘GEEK,’” she said. Dickinson-Ferrell directed her 24th one-act play this year, Don Zolidis’ “White Weevil,” which she describes as a “girl power” piece. The high school auditorium is a showcase for the success Dickinson-Ferrell’s speech program has had at Roland-Story. Banners from the Iowa High School Speech Association’s All State competitions line an entire wall of the auditorium and have spilled onto a second wall. “There are astonishingly talented groups that go to All State — big schools like Des Moines Valley that have big budgets and a dozen coaches,” Dickinson-Ferrell said. “When we get to an All State, that in itself is a major big deal.” Fine arts are a big deal for Dickinson-Ferrell and have been since she was a student herself. She played the bass clarinet in band, was active in speech, chorus, musical, three years of fall play, was on the pom squad and helped the flag team. It all added to her school pride, which she now fosters in her students. “One of the things that really makes me happy here is that I often get to teach the children of my friends — people I went to school with,” Dickinson-Ferrell said. “And now sometimes I’m teaching the second generation of students — the children of students I’ve had in the past. There’s something about that continuity that really makes me happy.”
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Amanda Starrett is a K-6 art teacher in the RolandStory school district. Contributed photo 24 | FACETS | JUNE 2017
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Ceramics projects show the creativity of Amanda Starrett’s students. Photo by Ronna Lawless/GateHouse Iowa
The art of teaching N
ow finishing the second year of her first fulltime teaching gig, Amanda Starrett teaches art to elementary and middle school students in the Roland-Story school district. She divides her time between the school buildings in Story City and Roland. Starrett appears to be settling down in Story City, where she recently purchased her first home. She’s also engaged to be married to her fiancé, Thomas Tebben, on Oct. 21. Starrett’s K-6 curriculum introduces youngsters to a variety of art terms and concepts, such as perspective, movement, line and value. When her first-graders were tasked with creating faces in the style of Pablo Picasso, the process was more elaborate than simply creating funny faces with construction paper. The kids learned about things like: the anatomy of the human eye, how to use lines to indicate movement, how to collaborate on a project and how to problem-solve. Starrett student taught at Garner High School, and she had student teaching experience with younger students in Mason City, when she was on her elementary placement. “But I didn’t have experience teaching lower elementary students; I’d never taught kindergartners before,” she said. “And I was honest with them about that when I
BY RONNA LAWLESS GateHouse Iowa
interviewed for the position here.” Starrett was a little nervous about it before she started work. “But I love them,” she said. “Kindergartners are so eager. They’re so excited about learning new things. There’s a huge level of enthusiasm there.” It can be trickier to get middle school-aged students interested in art, Starrett said. “But I try to pull each student in based on their interests,” she said. “If a student is sportsy, I show them how they can pull sports in to their art. Whatever is interesting to them can influence their projects.” Many of the art projects Starrett’s students work on are “open ended,” she said. “It’s a great way to let each student find their own connection to their art. They get an instruction sheet at the beginning of the project and then they can determine how to interpret that,” she said. The fifth-graders, for example, had a project at the beginning of the school year where they drew on spheres and could turn the globes into anything they wanted. “The fifth grade did an awesome job with that project,” STARRETT, page 27 FACETS | JUNE 2017 | 25
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First graders learned about the style of Pablo Picasso and then created faces in a similar style. Photo by Ronna Lawless/GateHouse Iowa 26 | FACETS | JUNE 2017
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Art teacher Amanda Starrett talks with her students about a project. Contributed photo STARRETT continued from page 25
Starrett said. “They really stepped it up, which was good to see because upper elementary is a time when kids can really lose their confidence with their artistic abilities.” Starrett herself has always been interested in art. “Like a lot of kids, when I was little I loved sitting and coloring,” she said. “When I would visit my grandma, she always had lots of paint materials, and by middle school I was really into it.” “In fact, it was my grandma who told me what my style is,” Starrett said with a chuckle. “She really paid attention to what I was painting. “In my own work, I like to use thick, bold lines and opaque color. And I like to use geometric shapes. Whatever her personal style is, Starrett clearly appreciates a variety of genres of visual art, which is demonstrated by the variety of different art prints by famous artists she has decorating her classroom, intermixed with student work. Recent projects for Starrett’s students involve the use of ceramics, a media that is one of her favorites. “One of the things I’m most excited about — the fourth-graders have been creating a ceramic town,” she said. “Each student worked on a small building and together they’re creating a town. Each piece is built with clay slabs, which is a really challenging ceramics method. I’m very proud of them and what they’ve created.” The 80-some students in fourth grade have completed the creation of “Clayville,” which is complete with a water tower. In early May, the collection was on exhibit at the Bertha Bartlett Public Library in Story City. FACETS | JUNE 2017 | 27
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Sharon Morrical poses for a photo during a family gathering in honor of her birthday. Contributed photo
women in education
Morrical brought a joyful noise to three Story County schools
BY RONNA LAWLESS GateHouse Iowa
As a vocal music teacher, Sharon Morrical touched the lives of students in three Story County schools before retiring from public school teaching in 2009. “My first teaching position was at NESCO, and it was a really defining start to my career,” Morrical said. It was 1973, and she was in charge of vocal music education for grades K-12, a daunting assignment for a new teacher. But Morrical was excited for the challenge. “I knew all through college that this is what I wanted to do. Actually, I’d known it since I was in third grade,” she said. At NESCO, she led musical productions including “The Sound of Music” and “The King Sharon Morrical poses for a selfie at a vocal competition with some of her students at Iowa Central Community College. Contributed photo and I.” Hundreds, indeed thousands, of students later, she can still tell you who the lead actors were. years. And I’m going back next year,” she said. From NESCO, Morrical moved to the Nevada school With between 20 and 38 students, Morrical teaches district, where she taught for 14 years, and then took a job voice lessons and gets vocalists prepared for a variety of at Ballard High School. competitions. At all three schools, she is remembered by students “I’ve always had a competitive nature,” she said. “I as a director who strived for excellence. She led musical believe you learn more if you’re headed for a goal.” theater productions, directed competition-quality choHer college teaching schedule of two days per week ruses and show choirs, and instilled her students with a gives Morrical an opportunity to pursue other interests. love and respect for all genres of music. Morrical plays piano for two churches, Gilbert Lutheran She wasn’t sure what she would do in her “retirement,” and Nevada Presbyterian, and directs some vocal groups but an opportunity soon arose. there. She’s learning to play the hammered dulcimer and “If you’re thinking about retiring, you need to have a paint watercolors, and she keeps busy with her flower plan,” Morrical said. “You have to find something that garden that grows in the shady timber at her home in gives you that needed, wanted, loved feeling — something Nevada. that gives your life purpose.” She also loves to travel, domestically and internationIn the fall of 2009, she started teaching at Iowa Central ally, and loves learning about other cultures. “You should Community College. just never quit learning,” she said. “I had planned to just teach there for a couple years MORRICAL, page 30 as an adjunct professor, but a few years became several FACETS | JUNE 2017 | 29
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The hallway to the music room at Nevada High School when Sharon Morrical was vocal director there. Contributed photo MORRICAL continued from page 29
“I’m also very interesting in women’s rights,” she said. Attending the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., with her friend and former colleague Mary Phillips, Morrical said she was energized by the experience. “It was such a great feeling to be in such a large group of women with like values,” she said. “I stood on the steps of the Air and Space museum — a place where I’ve taken students on trips before — and I was just struck by the sight of such a large group, and I’ve never been in a friendlier atmosphere.” Morrical said she recalls becoming involved in women’s issues when she was in college, and the Equal Rights Amendment was a political issue.
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“As a teacher in Iowa, growing up as a daughter of a teacher and farmer, and through traveling, my friends and I have witnessed many injustices,” Morrical said. “Women’s rights are human rights.” This belief has led her to be interested in many issues, including supporting policies about healthcare, immigration, a woman’s right to choose, the environment and civil rights for all. “I’ve been lucky in my life, but not everyone is, and we, as women, need to stand up for the most besieged group in the world — children, women and the elderly,” she said. “I think a lot of people don’t realize that the march was also a celebration of women and diversity. Seldom do we acknowledge all of the important contributions of
women in education women, or of our unique communities, that are a melding of many cultures in our society,” Morrical said. “When I’ve traveled, I’ve come home impressed with how much we’ve accomplished, but also with how much is left to do. So, the march was huge for me, as it was a defining moment in seeing and talking with people of the same mindset.” Morrical said she’s thankful to have always had the support of her family and friends. “Through thick and thin, they’ve been there!” she said. A career collaborating and interacting with other vocal directors is a rewarding one for Morrical. “Choral directors are so good about being generous and sharing their experiences,” she said. “On the whole, I’ve taught with and networked with some great teachers. … Our lives are shaped by the people we meet and the experiences we have. I’ve been lucky on both counts.”
Sharon Morrical and Mary Phillips at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. Contributed photo
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