Statesman V. 29, n. 01.pdf

,a special time
that you sometimes get from girls at this
age." Patience, consistency, firmness -
and that's not all you need according to
this teacher. "You need a tender side
sometimes."
But even with all these qualities
working for you, Bernstein says that
teaching in a junior high school is a bit
like "having one foot on the ground and
one up in the air. It's an age that makes
people say, 'How do we continue to do
this?'"
Nevertheless, Bernstein would
probably agree with his colleague Dan
Comerford, who has taught social studies
at Murphy the entire 18 years of its
existence. Comerford said, "The bottom
line for all of us who teach junior high
is....it's really fun. You can talk, intellectualize,
and play with the students."
This age group is often described as
open and flexible - characteristics that
Comerford is fond of in his students. "I
like them because you can make a real
change in their lives. Their life scripts
aren't really written, except in the most
severe cases that we don't see much of
here. They're malleable. They want to
learn and experience new things intellectually.
They're still curious." The
teacher's job is to try to get them to grow,
Comerford says.
Comerford echoes Bixhorn's sentiments
about the necessity of a structured
environment for growth to take
place in. "Structure is the most important
thing in terms of academics. We set high
but attainable goals and have a strong,
clearly defined, mutually worked on
discipline code. It makes for a quiet
education-like environment. It sounds like
jargon, but it works."
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Gelinas Principal
Marion
Gaigal accepts
one of the many
awards given
to the school
last year.
At Gelinas Junior High, principal
Marion Gaigal cites that same quality in
young adolescents that endears them to
the Murphy staff. 'They are open to so
many things, and they are ripe to explore.
When they're older they have jobs and
other commitments.
As a principal, Gaigal says she has to be
"a listener, because they have many
stories to tell, and they're all very important
to them. They're also very concerned
about being fair. You must have
consistency there. They have to understand
why a rule exists."
Bruce Coulter, a Gelinas teacher for 18
who now teaches ninth grade honors
biology, appreciates his students' intellectual
curiosity. They stil have the
fire, the enthusiasm that you want out of a
student." Coulter takes students backpacking
each year, establishing a rapport
with them that he feels carries over into
the classroom and enhances his teaching.
"I I like working with an age group where
I can do this." In short, Coulter sums up
his feeling about the pleasures of being a
junior high teacher in five words: "I just
like the kids."H
Janet Fenstermacher, math teacher
who was last year's district teacher of the
year, says you need endurance. And she
should know since she has taught at
Gelinas since it opened. "It's a difficult
time for the students, their parents, and
the teachers. The Students are going
through puberty, they think they're grown
up and they're always challenging
authority." Along with that endurance,
however, Fenstermacher says, "You
have to have a sense of humor, too. And
you need to have enthusiasm"
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