For a year now, the fifth graders have been best friends. They live 12 houses from each other on a busy, Norwalk, Conn., street. Marbella, born to a Columbian mother and Panamanian father, is outspoken, fearless, a natural leader. Hydea, an African-American who lives with her grandmother, is shy, tall, unsure of herself. Neither is a strong student or skilled reader. But they struggle for different reasons. Marbella’s priority is being social. She’s not particularly interested in working hard in school. She’ll fulfill an assignment, but seldom provide more than the bare minimum required. Hydea tries hard, yet lacks confidence. She’s the type of student who begs anonymity, who would never raise her hand in class, even if she knew the correct answer. Both would benefit from the help of Mrs. Schaefer, the school’s literacy specialist. But because of time constraints – a result of the pressure she feels to lift school reading scores on the state standardized test tied to No Child Left Behind – she can work with just one. Though the girls don’t know it, they are locked in a contest for Mrs. Schaefer’s attention. The one not chosen could be in danger of falling even further behind.
Tag Archives: Ron Berler Books
Mr. Morey
Unlike most Brookside teachers, presiding over a classroom of 10- and 11-year-olds was never his dream. Through most of his twenties, Mr. Morey had no idea what to do with his life. He enlisted in the Air Force after graduating from high school, figuring it would be a waste to attend college without a goal in mind. It wasn’t till he earned his teaching degree at age 31 and took charge of his first classroom that he knew he’d made the right career choice. By the time Marbella and Hydea entered his class, he had developed into one of the school’s top teachers – empathetic but firm, willing to experiment, a savvy employer of technology. His classroom demeanor differed from that of most of his colleagues. Where others were nurturing, he taught accountability. He stayed current by listening to his own children’s music and watching their TV shows. Midway through his career, like many male teachers, he returned to school to pursue a degree in administrative studies. Unlike most, he quit before graduating. His true love, he came to realize, was the classroom – sharing a room with 22 students over the course of a year and teaching. He spent the 2010-11 school year struggling for a way to get through to both Marbella and Hydea.
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Mrs. Schaefer
Mrs. Schaefer, mother of two, grandmother of one, has been teaching ever since her eighth birthday, when she asked her parents for a slate blackboard, “just like the ones in school.” At the time, her students were friends, a doll and her older sister (who would also go on to be an elementary school teacher). She began her professional career teaching third graders, but grew fascinated by the science of instructing slow learners to read. Eventually, she became Brookside’s literacy specialist. It proved a complicated and time-consuming job – the school’s reading and writing scores ranked at or near the bottom of the school district. Always an innovator, several years ago she went to the principal, Mr. Hay, with an idea: What if we target the students on the cusp of passing the state standardized test, and provide them with enough special tutelage to push them over the top? If enough of them succeed, we might lift the entire school from failing to passing. Mr. Hay approved. By December of Marbella and Hydea’s fifth-grade year, she had one last slot to fill. She found herself forced to choose between the two.
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Mr. Hay
Like Mr. Morey, Mr. Hay graduated high school having no firm grasp on what career to pursue. Like Hydea, he was preternaturally shy. To no one’s surprise, he chose the nearest college, Fitchburg State, ten miles from his home. He majored in education because Fitchburg was known as a fine teachers college. He chose elementary school because it was the easiest path to land a teaching position. And yet, haphazard as it seemed, he had pursued the perfect career for himself. Almost immediately, he fell in love with his job. Shy among peers, he blossomed around children. For 18 years he taught fifth and sixth graders in and around his hometown. Eventually, he became a principal. When he arrived at Brookside in 2003, he found a troubled and divided building. Academically, it ranked last among Norwalk’s 12 elementary schools. Schisms had riven the faculty. It didn’t help that the building was undergoing a major reconstruction. Mr. Hay proved the calming force that reset Brookside on a positive track. But would he be able to lift it enough to pass?
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