Walk through the Affinity Mentoring area in Godfrey-Lee’s Early Childhood Center and you’ll see plenty of children and adults reading, coloring, eating lunch and just sharing a friendly moment together.
Like mentor Anjie Gleisner, who is matched with kindergartner Nicole Dela Torre Gomez.
“I have never done this before, but it’s something I’ve always been interested in doing,” said Gleisner, a branch manager at the Kent District Library.
“I work full time, and recently my employer encouraged us to go out and do this within the community on work time. With the mentoring program, a lot of it is having a dedicated adult available to help out with anything kids might need help with regarding school, but also to be a buddy and someone to talk to every week.
“Because I’m a librarian, I’m really passionate about reading and have been bringing books from the library and we’ve been reading together. I’m really enjoying it so far.”
Rachel Humphreys, development director at Affinity Mentoring, said their model is unique, partnering with organizations, schools, corporations and individuals to provide high quality, culturally responsive mentoring to school-age children.
“Each partnership is developed to meet the needs of the students as well as the needs of the partner,” Humphreys said. “Our school partners support Affinity by providing physical space in the school as well as collaborating around which students to match with a mentor and inviting Affinity staff and mentors to continue to participate in the community/school team.”
Affinity currently partners with Burton Elementary School, Burton Middle School, Southwest Community Campus and Godfrey-Lee ECC. The organization hopes to match 25-35 students in its first year at the ECC and nearly 300 across all four sites.
Mentor Rachel Clousing works with first grader Trezure Griffith through Affinity Mentoring. (School News Network)
Grant-funded Partnerships
The Steelcase Foundation made the mentoring program possible last spring with a $75,000 expansion grant, which consists of $25,000 per year for three years.
The funds support mentor relationships and serve as seed money to open the fourth site, at the ECC.
Mentors and program staff work together with parents, teachers and administrative staff to improve students’ literacy skills, social emotional learning, self-esteem, leadership skills, attendance and academic achievement, Humphreys explained.
She said their goal is for mentors to be role models, tutors and friends.
Superintendent Kevin Polston said Godfrey-Lee Public Schools believes in the impact mentoring can have on a child’s education and their overall well-being.
“One of our core values is community, the belief that it takes a village to raise a child,” Polston said. “We are honored to begin a partnership … to bring out the brilliance in each child.”
New mentor Rachel Clousing said she loves hanging out with kids and wanted to give back by volunteering.
“I love it; it’s really fun,” said Clousing, a personal trainer.
Her mentee, Trezure Griffith, also enjoys her time with Clousing.
“It’s good,” Trezure said. “I was playing with Play-Doh and eating lunch down here. After I ate lunch, we raced each other on the playground.”
Second-grader Alexa Montano will be working with 11th-graders Kaniya Raby, left, and Sharolyn Rodriguez over the next two months to learn more about Plaster Creek (School News Network)
On a sunny, spring-like day, Kara Jones rounded up her second-grade students from Godfrey-Lee’s Early Childhood Center and walked with them across the district’s athletic fields adjacent to Plaster Creek. Their destination? The neighboring East Lee Campus, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools’ alternative high school program.
Once inside the building, Jones’ students scattered to classrooms and got acquainted with East Lee students, who read the younger pupils books that they had written about the creek outside.
Some of the second-graders were timid; others talkative. One girl had a case of the giggles. The meeting was the first of several weekly meetups that will happen between the two groups from now until the end of May as part of a “Community Legacy” unit at the high school, which uses a problem-based learning model.
Sharolyn Rodriguez and Kaniya Raby, 11th-graders, were all smiles as they got to know second-grader Alexa Montano. Kaniya said that creating the book was a little stressful and a lot of fun.
“Reading it to her just makes it all the more worth it,” said Kaniya, pointing to Alexa.
Second-grader Alfredo DeLeon said he liked the book that East Lee students Logan Barton and Joel Garcia wrote to teach him about Plaster Creek.
“We made it fun — added a time machine — and didn’t try to use big words,” said Joel. “I tried to make it as simple as possible.”
Second-grader Carlos Urbina and 10th-grader Christopher Andrade get to know each other at East Lee Campus. (School News Network)
Troubled Water
While keeping it as simple as possible will be necessary in order to share what they’re learning with the second-graders, East Lee students have chosen a complex issue to tackle for this unit.
“As a school we’re trying to do something that makes an impact on the bigger community around us,” said English teacher Sarah Byrne, who is team-teaching the unit with social studies teacher Justin Noordhoek. “The students have chosen to focus on cleaning up Plaster Creek, which is the most polluted waterway in West Michigan, we’ve learned.”
The unit began with students researching the waterway, which runs alongside East Lee Campus and the Early Childhood Center, and taking a bus tour of the Plaster Creek watershed and Wyoming area led by David Britten, former superintendent and current historian for the district. The bus tour gave the students a chance to photograph the current landscape and understand the historical factors that contributed to pollution in the creek.
While they’re still gathering data and learning about Plaster Creek, East Lee students are moving into the action phase of their study. The students will look to Plaster Creek Stewards, a project led by faculty, staff, and students from Calvin College, for guidance. The group will lead the Godfrey-Lee students in activities at Shadyside Park in Dutton to help them recognize creek-related problems in agricultural areas, then will advise them on ways they can help to restore the watershed. This may include hands-on restoration efforts such as planting trees and installing rain gardens.
Partnering with with Jones’ class to pass on what they are learning seemed like a good fit for the East Lee students.
Noordhoek said that in the past, he’s noticed the students really thrive when working with younger students.
“I really think a lot of them have so much talent with little kids and they don’t sometimes see that in themselves,” said Noordhoek.
Second-grader Diego Pina-Salcedo answers questions about his likes and dislikes with East Lee Campus student Bryan Barrios. (School News Network)
Leaving a Legacy Together
Jones, who has created and taught thematic units in her second-grade classroom on legacy concepts, was a natural partner for East Lee. The high school students will soon create lesson plans about Plaster Creek and teach them to Jones’ class. The two classes will also journal, take field trips, and plant trees together.
Jones said that teachers don’t often get the chance to bring different age levels together to work on a shared project. She said she hopes the collaboration will push her students to learn and will make the older students mindful of how they interact with younger ones, challenging everyone involved.
“I hope that they understand their environmental impact and that they make a new friend in the process,” said Jones.
Noordhoek said that he hopes this project shows students that they don’t need to wait for someone else to come and make a difference, and that they will feel empowered to do something when they recognize a problem: “They can be their own agents of change.”
Added Byrne, “Always our goal, no matter what projects we do, is that students are aware that they have the power to make the world a better place. If we can improve their literacy and critical thinking skills, and knowledge of history while doing this — that’s perfect.”
Using what they’ve learned about Plaster Creek so far, East Lee students created books to share with students in Kara Jones’ second-grade class. (School News Network)
TEAM 21 group leader Jocelyn Medina gives the afternoon agenda to students in her after-school program, speaking exclusively in Spanish. (Supplied)
By Bridie Bereza School News Network
Jocelyn Medina has been a group leader for the TEAM 21 after-school program at the district’s Early Childhood Center for three years.
Since the beginning of February, her job looks the same as it always has – leading games in the gym, passing out snacks and nurturing young students after dismissal. But it sounds different; Medina, who is bilingual, is leading a group of about 17 first- and second-graders exclusively in Spanish.
“It’s been fun,” she said. “It is a little difficult sometimes, because they’re all at different levels in their Spanish. Some are very fluent and have no problem whatsoever; they can have conversations for days. Some of them can’t, and they get frustrated.”
Jocelyn Medina helps first-grader Karla Farias-Gutierrez, one of around a dozen students who attended TEAM 21’s Spanish-speaking program last week, after dismissal at the Early Childhood Center. (Supplied)
Immersed and Improving
The effort is part of a new program the district has implemented to improve Spanish for “heritage learners:” those students who have been exposed from an early age to Spanish at home and who can understand and speak it to varying degrees.
Carol Lautenbach is assistant superintendent of teaching and learning design for Godfrey-Lee Public Schools. She said that the idea for the program came from research the district did on dual immersion language programs. A district team studied and supported the idea of dual immersion in the classroom, she said, but didn’t think it was sustainable given the number of bilingual teachers available.
With a grant from the Steelcase Foundation and robust support from TEAM 21 leadership, the Spanish-language after-school program was born. Medina and teacher Katie Van Haven helped design the program with Lautenbach. The district held an informational meeting for Spanish-speaking parents of children who attend TEAM 21 after school, and parents of 17 students opted in.
First-grader Edwin Chavez is one of those students.
“I know more English than Spanish,” he said. “I need to learn some knowledge about Spanish because I’m not really used to it. Numbers like 75… I’m not used to saying those things in Spanish.”
Edwin said using Spanish at TEAM 21 already has helped him understand and speak more Spanish at home.
Arielly Sanchez is excited to improve her Spanish skills, and hopes it will help her communicate with friends and family who speak Spanish. (Supplied)
Second-grader Arielly Sanchez, who says she is “in the middle” in terms of her Spanish proficiency, agreed.
“I think it’s kind of good, so I can learn more Spanish for when I go to Mexico,” she said.
Measuring Success
Lautenbach said other desired outcomes of the program are the same as those of the English-language TEAM 21: improved math and reading skills and exposure to new experiences.
“It should be a very interesting way to see if instructing and enriching in Spanish leads to growth in all of the 6Cs of our learner profile,” said Lautenbach, referring to an educational approach adopted by the district that emphasizes collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creative innovation, confidence and content.
Edwin Chavez says that TEAM 21’s Spanish-only after-school program has improved his understanding of the Spanish he hears at home. (Supplied)
Medina, who grew up in a bilingual household and graduated from Lee High School, said she has definitely seen improvement from the first few days of the program, when she noticed some confusion and frustration from certain students.
“Most of them still can’t speak it fluently, but they understand it,” she said. “At the end of the day, I know that they’re learning more and they’re comprehending more, so it’s been exciting to see that growth.”
Brittani Stickler, TEAM 21 site coordinator at the school, said many parents have expressed appreciation for the option. Stickler said she knew of parents who had planned to send their children to visit with family in Mexico to improve their Spanish, and now they may not have to do that.
“They’re hopeful,” Stickler said. “We only started at the beginning of February for this particular program, but we’ll be watching the data to see how everyone does.”
For more articles on area schools, visit the School News Network at schoolnewsnetwork.org.
Students at the Early Childhood Center are looking up to four new faces this school year, thanks to a new partnership between Godfrey-Lee Public Schools and Michigan State University’s College of Education.
It’s the first time the district has had Spartans interning (commonly called “student teaching”) at one of its schools, and it has been a great fit for the school and the interns, said Pete Geerling, center principal. MSU places its education program graduates in schools for an entire year, as opposed to the traditional single-semester internships of most teaching colleges.
A second-grader shows Katelyn Kouchoukos, an MSU graduate and teaching intern, her dance moves
“I think that far too often, people go through student teaching and it may not answer all of the questions they have,” said Geerling. “This — being here from the beginning (of the school year) all the way to the end — is huge.”
The college of education has about 100 interns, and about a quarter of those are in West Michigan, said Rochelle Hosler, field instructor for the interns at Godfrey-Lee. Other West Michigan districts with MSU interns include Grand Rapids and Kentwood Public Schools districts.
“We’ve learned a ton — especially in terms of implementing routines early on in the school year. It’s fun to see how fast (the students) pick them up,” said Ryan Culey, intern in Rebecca Swem’s kindergarten classroom. “There’s a lot of classroom management stuff that you don’t learn in the university courses.”
Ryan Culey empties the contents of a new student’s bag
Victory for MSU, and Godfrey-Lee
Superintendent Kevin Polston, a proud MSU alum, said the partnership has been a veritable “win-win.” Polston’s link to the MSU College of Education goes back about a decade, to his days at Grand Haven Area Public Schools. There, he worked with MSU’s education program to offer mock interviews to interns, as a way to give back to the profession, he said, and also to meet some up-and-coming teachers. After coming to Godfrey-Lee last year, Polston harnessed that connection to help bring MSU interns to the district.
Polston said his district is a great fit for MSU, which aims to prepare future teachers for an urban environment. The program even offers an urban educators cohort, which focuses on challenges unique to urban schools. He added that the research is pretty clear: most new teachers come from a fairly narrow demographic that has more women and is overwhelmingly white. Recruiting a diverse talent pool is important, he said, and so is equipping the current talent pool to work with students of different racial and economic backgrounds than what they’re familiar with.
Hosler said that certain factors, such as a high percentage of students in the free and reduced lunch program, made Godfrey-Lee a great fit for the interns.
Intern Hayley Browning works on an assessment for her internship at the Early Childhood Center
Moreover, she thought the school was outstanding.
“When we toured the school in the spring I was really impressed with the building, the teachers and the things that they’re doing here,” she said.
Intern Hayley Browning, who was in the urban educator cohort, said, “I actually hadn’t heard of Godfrey-Lee, and was intrigued by the fact that it’s the smallest district geographically in the state at one-square-mile. It’s pretty cool. I’m glad to be here.”
‘A Year-long Job Interview’
Polston said that at a time when demand for teachers is high, connections with teaching colleges are important ones to have. Hosler concurred, as she’s seen the number of students going into education decline during her time at MSU.
Teaching intern Katelyn Kouchoukos joins a second-grader as she gets her wiggles out during a “brain break”
“When I was done (with college), finding a job was really hard,” said Hosler, who completed her education internship 20 years ago. Now, she said, “our interns get hired very quickly. What we tell our interns is, ‘This really is a year-long job interview.’ If they want to stay here, it’s not hard to find a job in West Michigan right now.
Katelyn Kouchoukos moved to Grand Rapids from her home in the suburbs of Chicago for her internship at Godfrey-Lee’s ECC. Both she and Browning are unsure of their next step after completing the internship. They’ll attend job fairs, apply for jobs and see where they can go.
“I could see myself in Michigan, but I might go home,” said Kouchoukos.
Culey, however, was ready for a change of pace: “I will not stay here. I love Michigan… but for a little bit, I want to get away.”
Whatever path they take, they say they’re gaining valuable experience for whatever they may face as teachers. And, said Polston, the ECC reaps the benefit of another caring adult in classrooms.
Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.
MSU graduate and teaching intern Olivia Fox meets with field instructor Rochelle Hosler for a debriefing after a classroom observation
Researcher Dr. Twila Tardif, far right; and Dr. Carol Lautenbach, Godfrey-Lee’s Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Design, second from right; pose with Tardif’s research assistants and family
Adrian Lara-Lopez is a spirited 5-year-old. His favorite thing about school, he says, is playing Legos. He zooms out of sight of his mother, Maria Lopez, on the playground outside of the Early Childhood Center, where he is a kindergartner. But when it’s time to sit still for a few minutes and work on an educational mobile app designed specifically for English-language learners, he happily obliges.
“I like the games!” he exclaims.
Adrian is one of eight English-language learners at the school who are participating in research led by Dr. Twila Tardif, a developmental psychologist, professor and researcher at the University of Michigan.
Tardif has spent the last two decades studying how children develop spoken language and reading, with a focus on bilingual children. She helped develop a set of animations for teaching English as a second language for abcmouse.com, a digital learning resource for children ages 2-8.
Tardif said the broad goal of the research is to understand how children learn from apps and animations. She hopes to see whether or not carefully scaffolded apps and animations that support classroom learning can help ELLs grasp academic English.
Using the abcmouse.com platform, Adrian and other study participants work one-on-one with a parent outside of school. They spend about 10 minutes a day viewing a series of games and videos on a tablet, computer or mobile device. The animations teach them about things like colors, numbers, and the alphabet. They then talk with the parent about what they viewed.
“He’s learning a lot,” said Lopez, who speaks Spanish, as Jose Lara, Adrian’s father, translates. “He’s getting better at learning his numbers. He’s watching and and learning every day.”
Lopez said she thinks the work Adrian is doing on the app has improved his understanding of his homework and of what he is learning in school.
Adrian’s sister, Lizbeth Lara, 9, chimes in: “Sometimes he gets frustrated with homework but with this, he is entertained.”
Kindergartner Adrian Lara-Lopez uses the abcmouse.com app with his mother, Maria Lopez
Partnering for Success
Roughly 75 percent of families in the district are Hispanic and 50 percent of students are ELL, said Dr. Carol Lautenbach, the district’s assistant superintendent of teaching and learning design. Lautenbach said Spanish-speaking parents who are monolingual may not feel like they have enough ways to help their students learn.
“Parents are willing and eager to help, but they need the tools. This provides an opportunity to increase parents’ efficacy over a child’s success,” said Lautenbach. “We do the best we can at school with the time we have, but we know that students need more than the time at school.”
Godfrey-Lee students are the first wave to participate in this particular study, which will last two months. Tardif connected with GLPS through Kathy Hirsh-Pasek who, along with Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, co-authored the book “Becoming Brilliant.” GLPS has embraced the principles detailed in the book and worked with the authors to implement those principles in its schools.
“The district made a great partner because the families we are working with don’t necessarily have a lot of native English speakers to help at home,” said Tardif.
In addition, Tardif said, the district has “an extremely supportive staff, from the superintendent to the teachers who are involved.”
Adrian Lara-Lopez plays outside the Godfrey-Lee Public Schools Early Childhood Center, where he is a kindergartner
Teaching through Tech
Tardif said there is a huge variety of technology learning out there, and that the back-and-forth between the developers and the users is critical to getting it right.
“We absolutely need to do much more research about how kids are learning from apps and other technology,” Tardif said. “This kind of teaching is not going to go away.”
Ultimately, she said, her team hopes to find ways to improve learning and to provide support to children, families and schools.
“Research on how and what children can learn in different settings will help move that forward one step at a time.”
So far, Jose Lara is impressed with how the abcmouse.com platform and the animations developed by Tardif and her team have helped his son.
“We like this program, because (Adrian’s) really learning from it,” Lara said. “More and more, he’s recognizing letters and numbers. It opens doors for him.”
The Wyoming City Council took “the show on the road” by having its first meeting of the summer at the Godfrey Lee Early Childhood Center.
Started last summer, the Wyoming City Council has three of its summer meetings, usually the first meeting in June, July, and August, at a location in the city. The goal is to provide an opportunity for residents to meet with council members in their own neighborhoods while taking part in council meetings.
“These are just great opportunities to get out in the community,” said Mayor Jack Poll. “We want our citizens to feel that we are very approachable and that they can come and talk with us.”
Chief Kim Koster addresses the council
In fact, the seats at the Monday night meeting were full as the council went through the Wyoming Department of Public Safety’s annual report and approved several resolutions which included naming Brain Bennett as the city’s new deputy director of fire services.
“We encourage citizens that when we get around to your community to feel free to come in and see what a council meeting is all about,” Poll said.
The council meets every first and third Monday of the month at 7 p.m. The next “on the road” meeting will be Monday, July 2, at 7 p.m. at Delmar Community Room, near 56th Avenue and Wilson Street. The meetings are broadcast live on WKTV Channel 26 and rebroadcast at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
Each of the many locations where the One Wyoming Community Collaborative’s second annual Winterfest community events took place on Saturday, Jan. 27, had unique offerings for the many unique communities which make up Wyoming.
And maybe there is no event, and no community, as unique as the neighborhood around the Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center on Joosten Street SW — with its large hispanic population and its bilingual communication embraced as a community strength.
The weather was great — for January — at the Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center’s Winterfest event. (WKTV)
So it was only fit that notice of events — from raffle winners, to food offerings, to games on a playground free of snow and the sun shinning bright on a January day — were all announced in Spanish as well as English.
But there were not only fun and games available at the event. In addition to a visit from police Officer Shad McGinnis of the Community Services Unit, and a city firetruck, there were several community service groups represented.
“Here at Winterfest for the Godfrey-Lee community, we have various resources partners, resource services, non-profits in our area, people that serve our community,” Sydney Hanlon, am ECC staff member, said to WKTV. “It is an opportunity for our families, our community, to come out, look at the different opportunities that are available for them, to volunteer, to find resources, to get services from these partners — and to just have a good time.
“Here at Godfrey-Lee ECC, this is just one part of our school district, and Godfrey-Lee is a community school district — it is the only school district in Kent County that is a total community school,” she added. “What that means is that we try to provide services for our community so that we do not have to go outside the community but their (social and health service) needs can be met here.”
One Wyoming is made up of a collaboration of schools, businesses, local government, churches, nonprofits and residents to improve the quality of life in the community. It is best known for its successful 1-on-1 mentoring program.
Wyoming’s Winterfest is similar to National Night Out, which takes place in August. This years’s event had seven different locations in various neighborhoods throughout the city. Each location has activities that have been planned by churches, residents and businesses of that neighborhood. Each site will have its own slate of events, but all will feature food, family-friendly activities, health related information and activities, and giveaways from businesses and other local organizations.
The morning locations, included The Dock, located near Kelloggsville High School on South Division Avenue (actually Grand Rapids), Wyoming Junior High School on Wrenwood Street SW, West Elementary School (with Calvary Church) 38th Street SW, and Grace Bible College on Aldon Street SW.
The list of afternoon locations, in addition to the ECC, included North Godwin Elementary School, on 34th Street and Vanguard Charter School on 52nd Street SW.
For more information about the event or about One Wyoming, visit onewyoming.com.
At East Lee Campus, you’ll find students participating in a mock trial with a local mayor as judge, presenting marketing plans for a school store to area business owners, and discussing the “modern technological revolution” and possible impacts of technology on the future workforce. Part of Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, this program is an alternative high school with 110 ninth through 12th-graders.
“This school is the first time I’ve done this,” senior Quavion Woods said, about using skills like creativity, collaboration and critical thinking to present a plan for a school store last spring. This occurred during a competition in the style of the TV show “Shark Tank.” His team won. “I had to step up a little. I wasn’t used to being a leader.”
Quavion said he sees how the project will benefit him in the future. Getting to know people by working with them was valuable. “I learned from that. If I want to go into business or something I know I will have a good experience from this.”
Teacher Justin Noordhoek uses project-based learning in his economics/English and world history/English hybrid courses, which involves teaching students to use six skills that all start with the letter C. Educating students using the lens of the “6Cs” is an approach being embraced districtwide as teachers and administrators study a book called “Becoming Brilliant,” by psychologists Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, as a main resource on how to teach students best. These authors say brilliance is not defined by a single test score but by the development of skills that serve as a foundation for learning. Here is a Q and A with the authors in Psychology Today.
Hirsh-Pasek, author of several books and hundreds of publications. is the Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Her book,” “Einstein Never Used Flashcards: How Children Really Learn and Why They Need to Play More and Memorize Less,” won the prestigious Books for Better Life Award as the best psychology book in 2003. Golinkoff is the Unidel H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education, Psychology, and Linguistics and Cognitive Science at the University of Delaware and director of the Child’s Play, Learning, and Development laboratory.
“Becoming Brilliant” explains how the “6Cs” are vital for success in future careers. They include collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creative innovation and confidence. Development of these skills improves the way students learn the sixth C that usually gets the most attention: content.
“This shouldn’t be an alternative method of teaching, it should be the method of teaching,” Noordhoek said.
Godfrey Early Childhood Center students play in an outdoor learning center, an initiative to give students creative learning opportunities
All C’s are Equal
There’s research that shows he’s right. Educators, looking beyond test results, are wondering, what is brilliance and how can it be cultivated?
Turns out, brain development involves much more than may come to mind. The book uses thousands of research papers to back up the 6Cs approach,and that intelligence is not a singular entity. Real learning embraces the 6Cs and the environments that foster real learning, the authors state. Although there are many wonderful schools and teachers trying to encourage the breadth of skills that children need, high-stakes tests really limit what they can do.
The district’s goal is to educate “the whole child,” meaning going deeper than test scores in assessing student learning from preschool through graduation, said Godfrey-Lee Assistant Superintendent Carol Lautenbach. Teachers have already embraced the idea with initiatives like Day of Play, when students spend a whole school day in self-guided play; a STEAM Maker Day, where students played with gadgets and tinkered with design; and by opening an outdoor learning center with ample opportunities to bring class outside.
But no C is less or greater than another, Lautenbach said, stressing that they are ditching the hierarchy that puts less traditional skills on the back burner. The Board of Education adopted a Learner Profile in May that gives all C’s the same strength.
“Sometimes (educators) take skills outside of the content and we call them soft skills or 21st century skills,” Lautenbach said. “But these are all equal parts of becoming successful.”
Lautenbach said Godfrey-Lee is the perfect place for the initiative. She hopes to see teachers discovering students’ interests and helping them take off in learning about those things in different ways. “That takes a really skilled teacher, and we have them.”
It’s instruction that goes deeper than learning information for a test.
“It goes to the ‘why?’” she said. “Why do we teach math? We don’t teach math so you can do math. We teach math so you can do something with math. It will switch the way we instruct.”
Carol Lautenbach
Brilliant Minds Work Together
Administrators contacted Hirsh-Pasek last year with the idea of using the book, written for parents, in an educational setting. Hirsh-Pasek plans to lead some professional development in the district later this school year.
Teaching should match how children learn best and most happily, through exploration and discovery, Hirsh-Pasek said in a phone interview. They should pursue and dig deeper into individual interests, developing a love for learning.
Lee High School students tinker with gadgets and design materials
She named several ideas that promote the 6Cs: creating collaborative art murals that require communication, creativity and planning; learning how to find fact-based evidence and apply it to take a stance on issues like climate change; hosting classroom debates that require research, evidence and communication skills.
Sound a little like Noordhoek’s class? “(Becoming Brilliant) really changed our focus here as a school,” he said. “We started to look at the data of how students were achieving in project-based learning courses. … We thought we really need to become a project-based learning school”– a model increasingly popular at other schools, including Kent Innovation High.
Instruction embedded with the 6Cs can make school much more meaningful, Hirsh-Pasek said. But in the education climate of high-stakes testing, schools have often been regulated to “teach to the test.”
“That has made us as a society believe success can be defined by a test score,” she said. That’s why she’s elated to work with Godfrey-Lee.
“When I see a school system willing to branch out — to use definitions of success that every parent out there would want for their children, that don’t exclude the basics but include so much more — that’s so exciting.”
Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.
Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center math coach Debbie Schuitema, right, and David Britton, retiring superintendent of Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, could not keep the students at the from jumping the gun on the ribbon cutting of a new outdoor classroom. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
There was a classroom full of kids playing outdoors of the Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center building Thursday, June 8, as the school district held the grand opening of its new Outdoor Learning Lab.
The adults present — including the incoming superintendents of Godfrey-Lee Public Schools — spoke about the “educational” advantages of the facility. The kids? They just liked being able to climb on things and roll down a hill and dig in the sand.
And that is just the way the two teachers who spearheaded the project — Debbie Schuitema and Julie Swanson — wants it: an outdoor education opportunity that looks a lot like play.
Debbie Schuitema, left, and Julie Swanson. (WKTV)
“Students are naturally curious, and when you bring them out here, without books, when you take a way some of the parameters, and rules and procedures, you allow them to be creative, curious and intuitive,” Schuitema, who teaches math at the center, said to WKTV. “The things they come up with is just amazing, and that leads to more learning. You can take that back inside and build on that.”
The facility, located to the east side of the Early Childhood Center (ECC) building at 961 Joosten SW in Wyoming, includes mostly natural objects which kids can explore and play with: a tree stump, a stone and sand structure, a grassy hill.
And Swanson, a physical education instructor at the center, knows the value of outdoor exercise as part of a student’s educational process.
“Discover yourself through play,” Swanson said. “Just something as simple as which way to you hold a big branch, little side up or big side up? They are learning engineering skills, math skills. … They learn gravity by rolling down a hill. … Really just discovering a new way to learn, but they don’t know they are learning. … (We are just) removing the walls.”
The grand opening event featured permanent and temporary activities such as a mud kitchen, rock grotto, climbing hill, landscape berm, covered gathering space/stage, dead tree stands, Congo drums, weaving loom and log steps.
David Britton, left, and incoming new superintendent Kevin Polston. (WKTV/K.D. Norris)
But the most important things the facility brings is the ability just to be outdoors, according to soon-to-retire district superintendent David Britten, who was present at the event along with the incoming new superintendent Kevin Polston.
“Kids today are spending far too much time indoors — it is a criticism of education in general. We are far too focused on content learning and memorization and test taking,” said Britten, who was a big supporter of the project. “We have lost some of these outdoor areas, places for kids to play in.
“So, as I walked along here a few years back, looking for historical artifacts, I thought: What a great place to have kids come out on a regular basis, and learn,” he said. “Find what native plant species that are here, what are invasive; what kind of birds and animals live in this environment. How can we make it better for them? How can we keep plaster creek clean? How can we protect the environment itself, so we can all enjoy it.”
Aside from the support of the superintendent, other supporters thanked at the facility opening include Women Who Care Grand Rapids, City of Wyoming Public Works, Dykema Excavators, DeWitt Landscape and Design, TonTin Lumber and The Stone Zone.
Special thanks were also given to East Lee students, Lee Middle School students, the Plaster Creek Watershed, Groundswell and — especially — the Godfrey Lee Board of Education.
“So many different people donated their time and energy to this,” said Swanson. “The Godfrey-Lee board of education, allowing us to do this without strings attached — that allowed us to be so creative. We really want to thank our board and our superintendent.”
Every morning after the bell rings, Godfrey Early Childhood Center students start daydreaming. They close their eyes, sit quietly and think of whatever they want.
In kindergarten teacher Eryn Watson’s room, the calming, reflective activity flows into the start of learning. After opening their eyes, students talk about goals for the day: listening, helping a friend, earning reward points. “Why do we do this?” Watson asked on a recent Monday morning.
“So we can calm down,” students answered. “So we can rest.”
“It’s good for our brains,” added kindergartner Axcel Deleon-Magana.
Amber Kilpatrick creator of The Mindful Classrooms project teaches mindfulness techniques to students
Watson agreed. “We do it so we are all happy,” she told them. “I want you to have a wonderful, wonderful day.”
Moments spent lost in thought are part of the ECC staff’s effort to create mindful classrooms. Principal Peter Geerling started daydreaming time this school year to help students develop an awareness of their thoughts and emotions. Research shows that mindfulness interventions improve attention, self-control, emotional resilience, memory and immune response.
“It’s just giving quiet self-reflection time in this noisy, noisy world,” Geerling said.
The meditative sessions are just one component of how Godfrey-Lee staff members are helping students relax, feel more present and safe and, as a result, be more successful. Students also spend 30 minutes a week learning techniques to help navigate and self-regulate emotional stress with Amber Kilpatrick, creator of The Mindful Classrooms Project, and other instructors. Congress Elementary School, in Grand Rapids Public Schools, also uses Kilpatrick’s program.
Gabriel Thompson-Brooks has learned how to be mindful
A More Mindful, Sensitive Place
At Godfrey Lee Public Schools, a largely Hispanic district where more than 80 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and many live below the poverty line, educators see mindfulness as an important part of another focus: creating a trauma-sensitive environment.
Social worker Lisa VandeWaa and Geerling have attended training on Trauma Sensitive Schools and staff is also being trained. They are learning best approaches to teach students who have faced trauma. Along with poverty, many students deal with hunger and stressful family situations. “Everybody comes to school with baggage you can’t see, even adults,” Geerling said.
Responding to students who have faced trauma requires sensitivity. VandeWaa said traditional disciplinary practices aren’t effective and can even be counterproductive. Instead of “time out,” for example, ECC students are often given time to used their mindfulness techniques in the office until they are calm enough to talk. They aren’t isolated, because that can exacerbate the problem.
Jair Cabanas-Landa closes his eyes to daydream
“Trauma sensitivity isn’t a curriculum; it’s just a shift in your mindset and how you approach things,” VandeWaa said. Instead of ‘What’s wrong with this kid?’ you might instead say, ‘What happened to this little peanut?’ which really changes how you would approach what’s going on.”
It’s all about creating human connections in a society obsessed with numbers and data, where focusing on proficiency standards can’t be done without meeting basic needs, Geerling said. Part of that is making sure students feel safe.
But even getting students to feel comfortable daydreaming with their eyes closed is a process, Geerling said.
“For children in poverty, to try to close your eyes for a minute creates so much anxiety because it takes so much trust to have your eyes closed and know nothing is going to happen,” he said. “If we get everybody in the building to sit there with their eyes closed for three minutes, we have passed a huge, huge hurdle…They feel safe. That’s huge.”
The Board of Education has scheduled special meetings in March to interview superintendent candidates to replace superintendent David Britten, who will retire July 1.
Candidates were narrowed from a field of 30 applicants. The following candidates will be interviewed in scheduled open public sessions:
Tamika Henry, principal at New Options High School in Allendale Public Schools;
Carol Lautenbach, assistant superintendent for teaching, learning and accountability for Godfrey-Lee Public Schools;
Carlos Lopez, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment in Plymouth-Canton Community Schools;
Margaret Malone, director of fine arts for Grand Rapids Public Schools.
Lopez and Lautenbach will be interviewed starting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 6; and Henry and Malone starting at 6:30 p.m on Wednesday, March 8, during special board meetings. Both meetings are open to the public.
After the initial round of interviews, the board is expected to narrow the field to two for a final round and selection scheduled for 6 p.m. on Monday, March 20. All interviews will be at the Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center, 961 Joosten St. SW.
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The group behind Wyoming’s one-on-one mentoring program is branching out with the first ever Wyoming Winterfest this Saturday, which is designed to get people out and talking to their neighbors.
Put together by the One Wyoming Community Collaborative – made up of a collaboration of schools, businesses, government, churches, nonprofits and residents to improve the quality of life in the community – the Wyoming Winterfest is the next step in working to bring residents, community leaders and business owners together to start the dialog of what they can do to improve their neighborhood, said Jon Shaner, the marketing director for the Salvation Army Kroc Center, one of the sponsors for the event.
“With the success of the one-on-one mentoring program, we began to look at what would be the next best thing we could do to help unite people together who might be interested in working within their own neighborhood to improve the quality of life,” Shaner said.
February was selected because “in the spring, people tend to be out and about and that is when the festivals start,” Shaner said. “But in January and February, this is a time when we tend to holed up with Netflix and hang out at home. We thought this would be a good way to get people out and talking to each other.”
The Wyoming Winterfest is similar to National Night Out, which takes place in August. This Saturday’s event will have seven different locations in various neighborhoods throughout the city. Each location has activities that have been planned by churches, residents and businesses of that neighborhood. Shaner said for example, the Kroc Center, which is located in the north end of the city, has partnered with groups in the Godwin Heights area such as the North Godwin Heights Business Association and Community Church. Each site will have its own slate of events, but all will feature free food, family-friendly activities and giveaways from businesses and other local organizations.
The DOCK/The PIER, located near Kelloggsville High School at 4669 S. Division Ave., will kick things off with free breakfast from 9 – 11:30 a.m. The morning program will include games and prizes and high school students reading various speeches from African American leaders from past and present. There also will be a reading corner for children.
Also taking place from 9 a.m. to noon, will be a variety of activities including a bounce house, basketball contests, games, blood pressure checks, snow sculpture contest (weather permitting) and more at the Wyoming Jr. High School, 2125 Wrenwood St. SW. Food will be available as well as vendor and informational booths. Activities will be accessible from the main parking lot on the east side of the building off of Wrenwood.
Activities at Vanguard Charter Academy, 1620 52nd St. SW, will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and include outdoor ice skating (weather permiting) and inflatables indoors. There also will be a coffee bar, hot chocolate and pizza as well as a snow dough snowman making contest.
Starting at noon, Calvary Church, 3500 Byron Center Ave., will be offering lunch, kids games, bingo, and tax consultation. The Calvary Church program runs from noon to 3 p.m.
Also starting at noon will be outdoor and indoor games including Zumba and a bounce house at Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center, 961 Joosten St. SW. There will be raffle prizes as well. The program at Godfrey-Lee runs until 4 p.m.
Community Church (Godwin Heights), 150 Burt Ave. SE, – the program the Kroc Center has partnered with – will be offering indoor games, Zumba classes and art from 1 to 4 p.m. Food also will be available.
Grace Bible College, 1011 Aldon St. SW, will have activities from 1 to 4 p.m. as well. Those activities include sledding and snow scupting (weather permitting) broom ball, ice skating, games, races and crafts.
The entire event is supported by several community organizations including The Salvation Army Kroc Center, Family Fare, Metro Health: University of Michigan Health, Wyoming Community Foundation, Roosevelt Park Ministries, and UCOM.
For more information about the event or about One Wyoming, visit onewyoming.com.
Second-graders found the beat playing together on tube-like instruments called boomwhackers, tubano drums, glockenspiels and xylophones to the song, “Welcome back! I’m glad you’re here. Come and listen with your ear!”
The new instruments provide the chance for group activities like making sound effects and creating songs to go along with children’s literature, said music teacher Tami Nelson, who is planning many music-making opportunities for her 450 students, including public performances.
“It’s really nice and it’s awesome we get new drums and new stuff to play,” said second-grader Arianna Wheeler. “We were needing some new stuff. It was nice of them to give us new instruments.”
The majority Hispanic district has a large number of students who speak English as a second language. Through music, they can express themselves non-verbally, Nelson said.
Also, many students aren’t exposed to instruments outside of school. Many families in the community do not have access to instruments in their homes or the funds to purchase instruments for their own personal use, Nelson added.
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The group stood outside the door of the Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center media center. In Spanish, they sang, “In the name of heaven I ask you for shelter, for my beloved wife can go no farther.”
Inside, through the door’s window, another group responded, “This is not an inn. Get on with you. I cannot open the door. You might be a rogue.”
The back-and-forth song continued until someone opened the door, and the parents created a procession to the school’s gymnasium for a feast and fiesta.
Here in the school hallway, parents of preschool through second-grade students were re-enacting the Christmas story of Mary and Joseph seeking shelter at an inn in Bethlehem. They were kicking off the nine-day traditional Mexican holiday observance called Las Posadas, and giving teachers a taste of the season as celebrated in their native country.
Kindergartner Sanely Gonzalez plays with the Nativity
Las Posadas, which means “the inns” in English, precedes Christmas from Dec. 16 to Dec. 24. In Mexico, customarily, a couple dressed as Mary and Joseph knock on homes designated as inns, singing the song until someone lets the couple in.
In Godfrey-Lee, a majority Hispanic district, the volunteer-led evening event was an opportunity for parents to teach school staff members their traditions.
“We learn from each other about culture and food,” said Leonicia Rubio, an interpreter at the school. “Our parents want to share with teachers our traditions.”
After the procession comes fiesta time.
Teaching the Teachers
Dunce Pineda came with her daughters, high-school student Crystal Gonzalez and kindergartner Janely Gonzalez. Pineda said she has fond memories of carrying the Nativity set in Mexico and going from house to house. She likes that the tradition is being carried forward to young people. “I like that the kids get to learn the traditions of Mexico,” she said.
Parents served sizzling homemade dishes and treats including tamales, tacos, sweet bread called concha, Mexican fried cookies called bunuelo, and hot punch called ponche navideno.
“It’s really just bringing people together to build understanding and relationships,” said second-grade teacher Andrea Hall. “This is honoring the strengths our families are bringing to us.”
First-grade teacher Deedee Stasiak said staff members spend every school day with their students, often without knowing some of their treasured holiday traditions. Observing Las Posadas together was a great way to learn more about families and how their students spend the Christmas season, she said.
“I think it’s absolutely wonderful,” Stasiak said. “They feel really special being able to teach us something for a change.”
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Godfrey Lee Early Childhood Center Second-graders were stumped.
Class time had turned into an out-of-your-seats scavenger hunt that combined math, reading, art and some thoughtful sleuthing. But in figuring out the passcode to a lockbox where stickers waited inside, students had reached a point of frustration.
“But there is no key!” one said. “We’ve tried everything. There’s just no way to get it open,” another added in despair.
Mia Porter works to get the lock open
“You’re getting frustrated. I can see that,” said teacher Kara Jones. “So let’s take a step back so we don’t get super-frustrated.”
Lo and behold, after more examination and just a little guidance from Jones, students Lacey Smith, Ashley Morales-Vega and Keonah Wilson realized a pattern in the clues in front of them. It was unveiled by using subtraction and matching colors. “I figured it out!” Lacey yelled, jumping up and down. It was time to open the box and get the stickers.
In playing Breakout EDU, teacher Kara Jones’ students scrambled to crack codes at six stations using their math, teamwork and problem-solving skills. The game involved pre-created learning adventures and kits, challenging students to solve riddle after riddle as they worked toward a prize or treat. Godfrey Early Childhood Center students who successfully finished the puzzles to open all six boxes earned stickers that spelled the words “We make hard things look easy,” across Thanksgiving-themed headbands.
“It is so hard not to give them a clue to help,” said Jones, laughing. Instead, her students must rely on one another. “They use critical thinking skills; I think that’s the important part. They have to decipher the code and try to figure out things… Sometimes it’s right in front of them and they don’t see it.”
David Carcis is intent on getting the lock box open.
Fun for All Ages
The elementary students were doing a fairly simple version of the game, but Sarah Wood, Godfrey-Lee technology and media integration specialist, and Kelly McGee, district media specialist, have since introduced it to elementary through high school classrooms.
They learned about Breakout EDU during professional development at Kent ISD. Similar to The Great Escape Room (a popular team-building activity in the corporate world in which players are locked in a room and have to use elements of the room to solve a series of puzzles to escape), Breakout EDU challenges students to think outside the box to open the box.
The point is for participants to solve “non-Google-able” riddles. “You have to use and apply your brain,” Wood said.
Mason Caine puts his headband together with the stickers he’s gotten from the lockboxes.
While Jones’ students participated in a “no-tech” version of Breakout EDU, the game often involves technology like QR codes that lead to online puzzles. Teachers can use different themes in any content area.
“The content is the focus, but there’s so much else that goes into Breakout (such as) being able to work with a team and persevere,” Wood said, and students unexpectedly often step out as leaders and apply skills that they learn in class.
Not to mention it’s a fun way of reinforcing what they’re already learning. “They don’t realize they are doing the math. They just want to get into that box.”
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When students choose to learn about a topic they care about, Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center teacher Lindsay Blume sees the potential for genius to emerge.
Her English-language learner first- and second-grade students last school year researched topics ranging from a dog’s life cycle to how studios make movies, how to make a pizza and how to take care of cats. Why? Because they wanted to — and were given the chance.
Blume set aside time for Genius Hour to create a product from research, like a board game where you collect ingredients for pizza and a how-to book on cat care. It was up to the students to create what they wanted. Genius Hour is a simple concept that allots time for students to choose something they want to learn and work on a “pet project” about their subject.
She shared the process, which she hopes will expand to more classrooms and grade levels, at Rebel U. It was the district’s sixth annual professional development day that provides teachers with opportunities to learn how teaching and learning can be transformed through the use of technology.
Rebel U traditionally has focused on technology integration, but now is tied to a broader theme: human-centered design, an approach to problem solving that incorporates the wants and needs of end users of a product or service in every stage of the design process. (Conversely, think of a service that doesn’t consider its recipients’ true needs, like a winter coat drive for Costa Rican children. No matter how well-meaning, the service is likely not helpful.)
The district received a $250,000 grant from the Steelcase Foundation to re-imagine schools for the small, mostly Hispanic, low-income district over a two-year span using the human-centered design process. It focuses on the real needs of Godfrey-Lee students. Teachers said they’ve been challenged by the program, now in its second year, to be innovative and take risks. Genius Hour is an example of an idea that sprung from human-centered design thinking, Blume said. Instead of telling students what they need to learn about, student get to choose. That leads to more passion and innovation.
At Rebel U, teachers embraced new ideas as they headed into the school year. Questions discussed during a brainstorming question were: How can we use podcasts to connect with community members? How might we connect families with Kent District Library resources? How can we use virtual reality to enhance lessons?
Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center Principal Peter Geerling adds ideas on sticky notes about serving students best
Learning the ‘Who’ of It
The focus is on the “who,” said Superintendent David Britten.”That changes the outlook of the classroom instead of just focusing on what someone told you your kids should be learning. It’s what you think as an adult they should be learning. You focus on who they are and design learning around that.
“School’s got to be different than it was for the benefit of our kids, and technology is one tool.”
Genius Hour shows the possibilities of both technology and human-centered design in the classroom, and Blume said she wouldn’t be doing it without the opportunities available through human-centered design.
“It has helped me to step outside the box and know that I have the administrators’ and the whole district staff’s support to try new things. I’m encouraging my students to do the same thing,” Blume said. “We don’t have to adhere to the rigid ‘sit and let me give you information.’ The students are discovering it for themselves and that makes it a lot more meaningful.”
Kelsey Koetje, a first-and second- grade special education teacher, introduced Green Screen at Rebel U. The video-making program puts students in front of a green poster that comes to life behind them, integrating images into a topic they are presenting on. When it comes to how her students learn best, Koetje said human-centered design has given her the confidence to “figure it out.”
“Our district is very supportive of trying new things and figuring out what your specific students needs and going from there,” Koetje said. “We do have those high standards they want us to meet, but also encourage us to take risks and try it and if it doesn’t work you try something new.”
As part of the human-centered design process last year, a 19-member district team interviewed Godfrey-Lee families about their hopes and dreams. Hearing from those families impacted the thinking of Godfrey Elementary School Principal Andrew Steketee about how to involve them even more at school.
“It’s been all about opening up communication with our families,” Steketee said. “It has really opened my eyes. We can do so much more to invite them in, to get on the same level as each other.”
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Yolanda Guzman laughs with Godfrey Lee Early Childhood Center staff member.
When Yolanda Guzman’s son Edgar was in kindergarten, his teacher taught the Spanish-speaking mother how to count to 100 in English. That was the beginning of a very special bond between Guzman and the Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center.
“Then I could teach the children to count to 100,” Guzman said through a translator.
Since then, Guzman has spent nearly the entire school day, every day, for the past four years helping students and teachers at the ECC, which includes preschool through second grade. From the moment she wakes at 5 a.m. to cook speciality dishes like cactus gorditas, and homemade tortillas stuffed with meat, cilantro, onions and cheese for teachers, she’s focused on helping out at her son’s school.
“I like everything here because I like being with the children and seeing what I can help them with,” she said, on a typical day spent cleaning up in the lunchroom and helping kindergartners with math.
Guzman’s dedication led to her to being hired to a paid position for three hours a day, but she puts in far more time that that.
“She does really anything that is needed,” said Principal Peter Geerling. “She’s kind of instilling in her kids to get involved and stay involved in school.”
Committed to Helping
Guzman walks the three blocks from home to school, arriving at 7:30 a.m. She helps get the students settled after they arrive and then works in the kindergarten classrooms.
“Rain, snow, shine, I’m here,” she joked. “Like the post office,” quipped Geerling.
Guzman immigrated from Guanajuato, Mexico, eight years ago, with her husband, Jose Guzman. Their children include Edgar, now a second-grader, and Juan Daniel, a Lee High School sophomore.
She’s setting an example that’s having a ripple effect in the community, Geerling said. The district’s racial demographic is 75 percent Hispanic. Guzman has played a key role in informing other Hispanic parents, like her friend Jeidi Guzman-Celaya, of opportunities to get involved.
“I didn’t even know I could help at school before Yolanda recruited me,” said Guzman-Celaya, in translation. “People from Mexico are accustomed to having the teachers do everything without having to help out.”
“In Mexico, you take your child to school and pick them up and that’s it,” Yolanda Guzman explained. So she often tells Hispanic parents, “It’s not like that here.”
Serving Teachers with her Talents
Yolanda Guzman and her friend Jeidi Guzman-Celaya work in the cafeteria.
Before lunch, Guzman, a skilled cook, heads home to pack the meals she cooked that morning, and returns to pass them out to the teachers. “I make tortillas every day, different foods, but always homemade tortillas,” she said. “I want the teachers to get to know my food and for them to enjoy it.”
After lunch, Guzman helps in the school’s library, working with students or completing tasks for teachers. She then passes out sack lunches provided by Kids’ Food Basket, a Grand Rapids nonprofit that provides meals for students in need. To end the school day, she helps with dismissal.
Guzman said being involved has given her skills to help her children at home with schoolwork.
“That way, I know everything the teachers teach, and at home I can go more into depth,” she said. “What I tell moms is, ‘Get involved with your children because the children here need a lot of love from their moms.’
“The kids here, they like it that their moms come to see them do their school work. It makes them very happy to see their moms involved in the class.”
Yolanda Guzman
Geerling said Guzman connects with the Godfrey-Lee community in a much-needed way.
“She really has good contact with lots of parents in the community and is very passionate about how necessary it is to be involved,” Geerling said. “It’s one thing having the schools say we need involvement, but it’s a lot more powerful to have a parent doing it. She sees the need and the benefit and wants others to be involved.”
Many parents call the school and ask to talk to Guzman, or stop her in the hallway to ask about field trips and activities.
English-language learner teacher Amy Gregory said Guzman always takes the extra step. She contacts parents she knows have the best cheesecake or pastry recipes to ask them to pitch in for class parties. She listens to recordings of English words so she can help Edgar study for spelling tests.
“She constantly advocates for her kiddos,” Gregory said.
Guzman said her husband works long hours packing eggs at a farm, and she wants her children to do well in school so they can pursue the jobs that they want.
“I want them to have a career,” she said, “even if it’s a small career.”
