Newspapers / Elizabeth City State University … / April 23, 1991, edition 1 / Page 5
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fi^sday, Apnl 23, 1991 THE COMPASS Page 5 4 k The Joy of Teaching New position in Chesapeake, Va. a 'dream come true' for ECSU grad By Mark Morris T he question makes her eyes rise toward the ceiling and the comers of her lips reach for her ears. “I’ve wanted to be a teacher since the fourth grade.” she says. For Tekeshia Askew, a senior Elementary Education major from Ahoskie, N.C., it’s always a pleasure to share that information. With a first year contract worth $24,000 and a smile worth ten times that amount. Askew is living proof that dreams come true. “They (Chesapeake School Sys tem) came to interview us last semes ter as part of a program that involved 256 students from 13 schools,” said Askew “They narrowed it down to 40 people but only 38 of us actually signed contracts.” The Chesapeake, Va. school sys tem hired Askew in September. The event was timely because it occurred less that a month before the city, as a result of Virginia State budget cuts, placed a freeze on the hiring of state employees. For Askew, it was icing on a cake that she’s savored since age nine. “My fourth grade teacher was a role model and he inspired me to want to be a teacher.” she said. Askew attributes part of her desire to teach to racism she experienced from a teacher in the fifth grade. ‘'It’s not where the children come from that counts but who they meet in the classroom.” Tekeshia Askew tekeshia Askew, a senior Elementary Education major from Ahoskie, helps a young student at Central Elementary School in Elizabeth City. Askew, who dreamed of being a teacher ever si.nce the 4th grade, beings her first teaching job in Chesapeake, Va., this fall. In the classroom, she likes to allow her students a certain degree of freedom. “1 try to be creative," she says. “If one method doesn’t work out. I'll try something else." ECSU's teaching interns must 'sink or swim' during their first encounter with students The Chesapeake School System impressed Askew by recruiting from an equal balance of predominantly black and white institutions to include North Carolina A&T State, Fayette ville State, James Madison, and the University of Virginia as well as ECSU. She plans to make her home in Chesap^e. This summer she will go there to embark on a promising career in education. “I want to teach in elementary class rooms for two years to get myself established and save money toward earning my masters degree in either administration or counseling.” said Askew “1 like the classroom atmos phere but I realize from my student teaching that it can bum a person out.” Askew did her student teaching this semester with second graders at Central Elementary School in Eliza beth City. She says her students have fallen in love with her teaching meth ods and classroom manner. “When I began my student teach ing, I gave my students a degree of freedom,” she said “I also try to be creative, if one method doesn’t work By Mark Morris I-N-T-E-R-N-SHIP: it’s that time when a college senior spends one-hundred hours applying the lessons he studied in text feoks for three years. However, for 73 of ECSU’s educa tion majors, student teaching this semester was more than an intemship; it was a prerequisite to “Real World 101”. With comments ranging from how it feels to wake up at 6 a.m. every morning, to kissing their comfortable blue jeans goodbye, this year’s field of student teachers feel that they have a novel’s worth of information that will help students following in their footsteps. “Whatever you don’t leam in your three and a half years of classes, you ’ 11 leam from student teaching.” said Erika Ruffin. ■■ Ruffin is a middle grades educa tion major from Kelford,N.C. She did Jier student teaching this semester at Knapp Junior High School in Curri tuck. “I saw what it was like to have 20 to 25 different personalities in a class room.” Ruffin added, “The course I had in multi-cultural education was helpful but it wasn’t like actually running a class.” Ruffin gave the example of having to deal with five students with indi vidual problems as well as the “so- called normal kids”. “My cooperating teacher helped me tremendously,” saidRuffin. “I just had to leam to flexible.” Flexibility is a characteristic that Mignon Manns, an Elementary Edu cation major from Newark, N.J. de veloped quickly. “It’s important because someone can inadvertently throw an assembly into the middle of your lesson,” said Manns. “There are also times when a lesson can be sidetracked by a disci plinary problem, making preparation a must.” Student teachers also learned that their personal lives take a backseat while in the classroom. One student teacher got a bad evaluation on a moming after a tough night and ended up crying for twenty minutes in a bathroom. “Yes, the classroom environment is unsympathetic to our personal prob lems,” said Cheryl White. “But that’s something we are going to have to leam to deal with.” White is a Secondary English New recycling program to cut campus waste By Renee Knight LizLinney has declared war on waste. “If we don’t slow down and start recycling,” says the coordinator for ECSU’s new recycling program, “the earth is going to become a gar bage heap.” What can ECSU students do to help? “They can get more involved,” glares Linney. “My challenge is to use the containers “for their purpose,’ and not as trash cans. “The University can be a training ground for the students,” said Linney, “to start recycling.” Students should learn to recycle waste, Linney added, to help prevent the world from running out of natural resources, to help purify the air and save landfills. She also pointed out that recyclmg materials saves everyone money. The savings comes from the re- »» 1 - J Education major from Woodard, N.C. White refferred to student teaching as a “sink or swim situation.” “A person has to be ready to give 150% or they won’t be able to handle student teaching,” White added. For Tekeshia Askew, an Elemen tary Education major from Ahoskie, N.C., giving 150% started before the time to do student teaching came near. “I took a concentration in English so I wouldn’t have a problem with speech in the classroom and on the teaching exam,” said Askew. “Our education majors should take advan tage of all of the speech labs and voice classes offered here.” Askew said she often conversed with other teachers to get ideas from them. “I went into it with the attitude that the more I leam beforehand, the better off I would be once my student teach ing began.” she said. Most education majors have a mentor. Whether it be an advisor or simply an instructor whose style left a lasting impression on them, they all refer to someone when they discuss their approaches to student teaching. For Askew, it was her former advi sor, Dr. Sandra Jones; for Cheryl Linney. My cnaiienge IS lu ^ stimulate the students to get involved duction of solid waste costs, shesaia ^ protect the environment.” “Recycling is a necess^ c ^^8® Linney assumed her new position in the way we handle our as , in the spring of 1990. The position has written. “If our future generaUons was created as part of the recycling are to have a clean and safe environ program after a 1989 state law re- ment in which to hve, we must taKe quired all government branches, in- the initiative to change the way mgs eluding universities, to reduce solid have been done in the past. Waste disposal by October, 1993. - Linney ’ s efforts focus on recycling ^uminum cans, cardboard, computer paper, newspaper and office paper. ■ For the first quarter of 1990, Lin- ney recycled 9,^2 pounds of mate 'll—192 pounds of aluminum cans Linney pointed out that recycling a ton of paper saves 17 trees. To help raise campus awareness about recycling, Linney plans a pro gram for Greek organizations to see who can collect the most cans. ‘Which ever organization comes nai-192 pounds of aluminum cans wnicn — - -'2,200 pounds of cardboard, 3,100 in first will get ^5% of the pr^^^ ■pounds of computer paper, 2,100 from all the cans co ec _ j ^;il ^ ’1 550 “And whoever comes in second will get 35% of the money from the cans.” Linney said boxes and packing materials are available from the Uni versity’s recycling office, located in Room 151 Lane Hall. I’ll try something else.” Askew thinks that coming from a family of 10 children may have made the task easier. However, she also gives tremendous credits to her pu pils. “I just have a natural love for chil dren,” she confessed “when I see a child, out of instinct, I want to go and play with him.” Student teaching has been every thing Askew thought it would be. She has felt job satisfaction from the phone calls from parents who thank her for motivating their child to leam. Askew believes that she is a role model for her students, acknowledg ing that they see her more than their own parents. Her philosophy of teaching is “It’s not where the children come from that counts, but who they meet in the class room.” Chesapeake has since lifted the freeze on the hiring of state employ ees but, to Tekeshia Askew, “it was too late once the contract was signed.” “I’m on my way now,” she said “Looking back on it all I have to say it was worth it.” White, Dr. Samuel Moore; and Ruffin calls upon Dr. Elouise Roberts as a muse. Herbert Johnson, a Secondary English Education major refers to himself as “a Dr. (Robert) Thome protege.” “I’m a strict disciplinarian because of the way I wasrais^,” .said Johnson, “but I like Dr. Thome’s calm and relaxed style.” Johnson did his student teaching at Gates County High School. He said that student teaching has helped him develop his own ideas and style of getting information across to his stu dents. “I really wanted my kids to leam,” he said. “During spring break, I per sonally arranged a field trip for my students to come to G.R. Little Li brary to research information for a report I gave them. Also, for every aspect of literature we covered, I had them submit their own ideas.” Ruffin also leamed the power of creativity in a classroom. “I had the students reenact the Boston Tea Party in class one day and they really had a ball,” she said. “I even found out that there was an Eden ton Tea Party so I had them reen act that one too.” pounds of newspaper, and pounds of white office paper. Linney said she is working on her goal of establishing collections con- ^ners in all campus buildings. Linney said ECSU students should Andre McKaskie looks cool and sophisicated, even when ^Sna aaainst a tree on campus. Many ECSU men are expressing ISlves wlh bright colors .his fPring, ac«>rding to The Compass fashion consultant and critic, Sylva Walton. Sherry Davis, an ECSU teaching intern, poses with a young stuaem. Holly Haskett. Like other eaucaiion majors during their teaching intern ship, Davis has had to leam to adjust to the demands of teaching—a job that requires infinite patience and flexibility. Pink and lavender o.k. Color is in for 90 's men Since the beginning of time so ciety has emphasized beauty and fash ion views of the European woman and encouraged the male to be passive in the world of fashion. In the past men have had to concentrate on being bread winners rather than looking good. Who is to say that men are not to look as good and be as up-dated on fashion as women? The answer is definitely none, because men do not have to be con- fmed to a set pattern of dress. Fashion should be thought of as an expression of who you are and how you want to present yourself to the world. For example, if you were one of many candidates for a position at a major corporation obviously you would not walk in sluggishly with a pair of faded jeans and a tee shirt embroidered with the name of the college you attended. The attire will not give the impression you want to convey for an executive job. You would want to create an at mosphere where you would stride in confidently, displaying your well-tai- lored double-breast suit with the knowledge that you at least look good before your interview begins. So men, spring fashion is all about expression. No one can make you over, nor can they limit your expres siveness in style. By Sylvia Walton Today’s ECSU man who wears pink and lavender doesn ’ t have to worry about being called a sissy. No more are men confmed to the plain basics of tee shirts and blue jeans. Dark blue, straight-leggedLevis and Lees have given way to faded Guess and ripped Bugle Boys. Gone are the days when they felt that colors like pink, red and green were exclusively for women. The print shirts wom by today’s man should boast 10,12, or even 20 colors if there is space for them aU. If there isn’t than there is always a fisherman’s hat or a baseball cap bearing unusual school colors such as the green and orange of the University of Miami “Hurricanes” or the purple and gold of the Louisiana State University ‘Tigers.” ‘Those colors are for sissies!” is what men of the past said. Now they say, ‘Those colors are for men of the 90’s as well as the women.” Instead of being discouraged from expressing their emotions with fash ion statements, a volcano has erupted spilling a lava hot enough to fuse the colors to create new ones and inten sify those that already exist Now is the time to make your move! The ideal theme for spring fashion is dressing to please you.
Elizabeth City State University Student Newspaper
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April 23, 1991, edition 1
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