Page 2-B
Open Letter- ESAA Teachers Defend Remedial Math Lab Program
(Editor’s Note: Following
is a recent letter to Rep.
Walter B. Jones of the First
Congressional District,
regarding the new
elementary school guidance
and remedial math labs
which are new in Edenton-
Chowan Schools this year.)
Dear Congressman
Jones:
We would like to introduce
ourselves to you as Jo
Wheeler and Ginny Sum
mers, presently employed
as Math Lab teacher and
Guidance Counselor at
White Oak Elementary
School in Tyner.
We are writing to you in
regard to the future of the
Math Lab and Guidance
Programs in our school. The
reason for our concern is
that we feel these programs
are extremely valuable, yet
they might not be funded for
next year. Both programs
are funded through ESAA
(Emergency School Aid
Act).
The Math Lab is set up to
work with remedial math
students. The students are
one grade level or more
behind in math.
Remediation is necessary
because these students fell
in the 1-50 per cent in the
nation in math. Our lab
consists of 65 remedial
students in grades 1-4. They
are scheduled in the Math
Lab for a maximum of five
hours of remediation a
week. Our goal is to bring
these students up at least
one grade level by the end of
the year.
These children receive
individualized instruction in
their own deficient skills,
progressing at their own
rate. Individual instruction
that they would not be able
to obtain in a classroom
situation. We are giving
these children actual feeling
experiences in the world of
mathmatics. To them, math
is magical, they have found
that all of a sudden math is
fun. They experience suc
cess, feel good about
themselves and are excited
about the possibility of
actually becoming the
hands of a clock, feeling how
it is to become a fraction,
and concocting their own
recipes when studying
measurement. Now, math
has come alive.
Math is no longer
restricted to a pile of
numbers in a book, numbers
to be added and subtracted
only. We have taken their
own needed skills and in
tegrated them into these
living experiences, whether
it’s turning the room into a
grocery store when learning
about money, to dividing
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ourselves into actual
fractions when learning
about parts and wholes. This
whole beautiful process is
not only restricted to the
lab, but shared with the
classroom teacher. Close
contact between the lab and
teacher helps us, as
remedial math teachers to
supplement the classroom
teacher.
That remedial child gains
math lab and classroom
learning experiences that
are invaluable. Not only is it
critical to keep close contact
with that classroom
teacher, but also with the
parents who are aware of
why their child is in the lab
and how they can help at
home. Sometimes home
learning experiences are
just as valuable as school
ones. We have interested
parents who do come in for
weekly conferences, beg for
suggestions of how to help at
home, and one parent who
has actually become a
parent tutor in our lab.
These accomplishments
would not be possible
without the help of my two
aides who work with me in
the math lab, Mary Alice
•Baker and Agnes Blount.
Mr. Jones, the beautiful
part of this whole ex
perience is that it’s
working! We have
diagnostic tools which we
use to test the children
periodically which shows
their progress. Even more
rewarding to me, is to be
able to see their progress
without these tools, through
the help of the Elementary
Guidance Program.
This is the first year that a
comprehensive guidance
program has been
established at White Oak
School. The program was
.set up to meet the
developmental as well as
immediate needs of the
school. This involves
counseling, consulting, and
also coordinating the efforts
of the children, faculty,
parents, support personnel
and relevant community
agencies.
Although /he guidance
program is primarily
geared to meet the needs of
remedial ESAA students, it
affects all children, not just
those with problems. Since
the program is develop
mentally oriented, guidance
is needed to help these
children pass through these
stages successfully.
The strategies to meet
these needs are varied.
Classroom guidance
sessions are held in each
classroom once a week.
Here all of the children are
exposed to role-playing,
discussions, films and
DUSO. DUSO stands for
developihg understanding of
self and others, and is a
program with stories, songs,
puppets and role playing
activities. DUSO the
dolphin, a favorite puppet of
the children, shares these
activities with them. The
DUSO program is divided
into developmental stages
that all children experience,
as follows:
1. Understanding and
accepting self
2. Understanding feelings
3. Understanding others
4. Understanding in
dependence
5. Understanding goals
and purposeful behavior
6. Understanding
mastery, competance and
resourcefulness
7. Understanding
emotional maturity
8. Understanding choices
and consequences
The DUSO program is
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TOE CHOWAN HERALD,
invaluable. We help the
children pass through these
stages successfully to limit
problems they might meet
later in life. Basis of all
elementary guidance is
PREVENTION!
Other strategies used are
small group counseling for
special problems or con
cerns. These may include
groups to enhance self
esteem, or groups dealing
with how to make friends.
Individual counseling is
ongoing at all times.
Children may be self
referred, teacher-principal
referred or parent referred.
This gives the children
individual help with im
mediate concerns.
The most important
people in a good guidance
program are those
significant people in the
children’s lives, teachers
and parents. One person
cannot run a successful
program alone, and we are
fortunate here to have
i supportive personnel.
Together we- consult about
different ways to deal with
children,' classroom
management skills, and
ways to continue guidance
activities in their • own
classrooms. Parents at
White Oak expressed a need
for guidance themselves
and so a parent program
was set up.
S.T.E.P., (Systematic
Training for Effective
Parenting) which was
developed to help parents
and others who want their
relationships with children
to be more satisfying.
The elementary guidance
program is needed not only
at White Oak School but in
every elementary school.
Our main goal is to prevent
academic, social, and
emotional problems. The
more we do at the
elementary level the less
problems and money will be
needed at the secondary
level when the problems
become more serious,
through years of habit and
neglect.
Children at White Oak are
learning to fed good about
themselves and they take
more pride in their school
work. They are, awarded for
their academic
achievements not
failures, so they Are striving
to do better. They are
learning to share ideas and
are learning from each
other. They are being given
chances to succeed, so they
risk trying new tasks more
frequently. They are
learning to have confidence
in themselves and are
opening up to new ex
periences. It is wonderful to
see these changes, but it is
only a beginning and we
have a long way to go. What
we would like is an op
portunity to continue with
these programs so these
children are given every
chance to succeed in this
-world.
The purpose of this letter
is to give you a better un
derstanding of our
programs and the need for
them. We realize that this
may appear as an appeal for
nothing but the renewal of
our jobs but it is also an
appeal for the children so
that they can continue to
receive these special ex
periences that they are now
getting.
As you are our local
Congressman we would
appreciate any support that
you can give our programs
in the manner of renewal.
We understand that you
ara an extremely busy
Congressman, but we would
like to extend an invitation
to you to come out to White
Oak School and see these
things we have written down
Thursday, March 10, 1977
on paper come to life.
If you would like to come
out to White Oak please give.
us a call at your con
venience. The number is
221r4078. We are looking
forward to hearing from
you.
Sincerely,
Ginny Summers
Jo Wheeler
Fashioa Show S«t
The Perquimans County
Jaycettes are sponsoring a
fashion show “Fashions
A’ Flutter” on March 19 at 8
P.M. to be held at the
Hertford Grammar School
in Hertford.
Tickets are $2 anyone
under 12 will be admitted
free. Proceeds go into a
recreation fund for
Perquimans County. The
winner of a School Clock is
to be chosen at that time and
door prizes will be given
away.