A patience for reading impacts students

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by GARY SMITH Barbara Allen and NaShay Green work on a writing exercise at J.P. Ryon Elementary School in Waldorf. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Age: 58

School: J.P. Ryon Elementary School.

Subject⁄grade taught: Reading recovery, first-grade students.

Extracurricular: Executive board, Education Association of Charles County, swimming, politics and Red Sox nation extremist.

Education: bachelor’s degree (French) University of Maine at Orono; master’s (teaching of reading), University of Connecticut.

Favorite book: ‘‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine,” by Don Fendler, which my sixth-grade teacher read to our class. I was amazed that someone our age had survived what this child had survived, and I could not wait to climb Mount Katahdin in Maine and every mountain in the presidential range in New Hampshire.

It was such an itch that my parents had to send me away to camp for the whole summer just to keep me busy and out of trouble. I stayed busy. The trouble part seems to have somehow followed me.

Your best subjects when you were in school: French literature and poetry and the same in English. I couldn’t choose, so I changed my major every semester. In the end, I had two more credits in French, so that was my major.

Best advice you received from a teacher: ‘‘Don’t ever take another math class at this university again!”

What word do you routinely misspell: Yankees. On purpose. I despise them. I’ve always been a good speller because I read so much, so often.

What is the name of your cell phone ring: ‘‘The Can Can.” I think that possibly in another life, I was a dancer at a club in Paris.

Beach, city, wilderness or country? Do you mean which do I like best? I love them all.

Why did you pursue a career in education? Everyone in my family taught in Massachusetts, where I grew up. They were obsessed, and I swore I would never be like them. After college I took off for France, never intending to come back. I couldn’t stand my mother’s pleas, so I came home and did my student teaching in Houlton, Maine, just to make my mother happy. I loved it, and I think that there is some rogueÊgeneÊthat I inherited, causing me toÊlove beingÊwith and protecting children; being good at teaching them, no matter what the subject; loving to see the light come on in their eyes when they ‘‘get it;” andÊenjoying all of the above.

What’s the best thing about teaching? I get to teach little people to read, to break the code and to be proud of their accomplishments. I don’t think that at the age of 6 that they even know that I’m involved in the process, which is great. If they think that they did it all by themselves, then they have even more to be proud of!Ê I have teachers ask me all the time, ‘‘ YOU had HIM??” They can’t believe that these little geniuses had a reading problem. They really didn’t have a problem. They just needed someone to show them how to put it all together. Reading recovery is the most wonderful program in the world for children this age.

What do you consider the biggest challenges of your job?ÊBelieve it or not, there are parents who don’t love their children the way that they should. They don’t care about their well-being, physically, emotionally or educationally.ÊThey actually hurt them, and hurt can come in many forms: physical,Êwithholding love, abuse of all sorts. It truly is beyond belief. We need tougher laws and tougher judges to see to it that our children are properly cared for. I have suggested several times that they all come and live at our house, but my husband won’t go for it.

If you were not teaching, what career path would you choose?ÊI would be giving tours in France of museums and cathedrals. I’m one of those people who talks to everybody, and it’s no different from one language to the next. People are always saying that they hate the French. How many do they know? Probably none, because if you are respectful of their culture, and if you attempt to use their language, they are just as charming and sweet as any American. Their country is the size of Texas, for goodness sake, and they have plenty of immigration problems on their hands. They are some of the most gracious people I have met.

How do you spend your time outside of school? My sons are well-educated and grown. That became my greatest issue in life, to see them succeed. I read constantly. I love politics and spend a great deal of time as an activist, hoping to get as much attention paid to educational issues as possible. It truly is theÊmost important issue in the world.

We have homes in Maine and South Carolina, and I have a vast, useless collection of shells, which I can’t seem to stop collecting! Because one of my sons is a commercial pilot,Êmy husband and I can travel as much as we want, when we have the time. If that doesn’t prove that education is worth it ... I don’t know what does! I have recently discovered several classmates in airports among them, my favorite Pittsburgh Steeler, Franco Harris, who was hard to chase, but I got him, former classmate Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Sen. John McCain.

I also spend time with my little French Bichons, Jacques and Maurice Chevalier.

What kind of things do you do in the classroom to make the learning experience unique for the students? Our program is fairly rigid, but the simple fact that I care aboutÊmy studentsÊand their success makes everything special.Ê We work with our students one-on-one. That’s a very special situation, a gift from our superintendent and his staff. Our principal loves the program and supports us completely. She is a lover of everything having to do with believing in children and their ability to succeed. This school is a very special place because of her andÊour staff.

If you could meet anyone, dead or alive, who would it be, and why? I have always wanted to meet Victor Hugo. I adored the man and his writings.ÊI have read all of his works in French and have visited his home in Paris, where he did all of his writing standing at a desk overlooking La Place Des Vosges, a small, peaceful park.Ê He was so loving and creative. I have been very fortunate to have had the liberal education that I have had. It has allowed me to do and appreciate many things that other people may not comprehend or appreciate.

Jacqueline Rabe