“The Academic Development Fund (ADF) supports the cost of having a second educator in every classroom The interns in the British Primary classrooms and the paraprofessionals in the Contemporary classrooms help us provide more individualized and small group instruction for our students. If a student is needs additional support or needs to be challenged more, the second educator is available to assist in meeting the student’s needs. Steele students have demonstrated high academic growth over the past two years and we want to ensure that it continues. The Steele Community’s support of the Academic Development Fund is one of the driving forces in creating a successful learning environment for all of our students.”
Mr. G. Boyer (Principal Steele Elementary)
“Second educators help support and promote individualized and differentiated instruction by allowing me to spend more time on individual needs of the kids.” Kathryn Demchak, Kindergarten teacher
“Second educators allow us to spend more time with each child and also give us the opportunity to dive deeper into what we are learning. We can do so much more!!!”Meghan Morse, 1st/2nd grade Teacher
“A second educator in my classroom presents an additional role model and a further support for helping students reach their educational goals.” Caren Balde, 5th grade Teacher
“Having a second educator in the classroom allows the teacher to focus on the challenge kids, the struggling kids, and the ones in between. For example, when running Book Clubs in reading time, an intern might take the fifth graders and high-reading fourth graders to pick books from the sets in the teachers’ lounge, and remind them about how to plan their reading and how to have book talks, then he/she will take part in their book talks. The mentor might have preselected book choices for the younger or less-able readers, and will spend more time on the organization and recording part because it will be unfamiliar to most of them. The mentor will attend these book talks, but will also check in frequently to make sure everything is on track.”Pat Duran,3 rd.4 th.5th grade teacher
“Having a second educator in the classroom allows more accountability for individual students, more small group instruction, and more one on one instruction. Also, planning is done through dialogue and discussion which leads to thoughtful, meaningful lessons.
Andrea Keglovits, 3 rd.4 th.5th grade teacher
“Having a second educator helps make it easier to teach three grade levels in one classroom…”Mrs Shelley 3rd, 4th, 5th grade
My daughter was 7 ¾ when she lost her 3rd tooth. She was filled with excitement and already counting the coins the tooth fairy would magical bestow that night. She tucked the tooth lovingly under her pillow and in the morning found that the tooth fairy had forgotten to visit. Not my finest parenting moment. Never the less, it was a school day so I drug her from the house looking bewildered and depressed. When we got to school, the teacher was surrounded by 5 students all clamoring for attention in the middle of the typical, morning, playground bustle. The class intern noticed my daughter wilted state and inquired about the cause. While I watched her sit down on the playground and listen to my daughter’s tale of the missing tooth fairy, a wave of comprehension came over me. In my years a Steele, I had heard the importance of a lower the student to teacher ratio before, but before that morning it meant very little to me. The thought occurred to me that had there had not been a second educator there, my daughter could have been lost in a class of 28 with a teacher focused on completing the morning routine. I realized that having the interns and paras in the classroom means much more that academic support for our children. It means support in so may other countless, and intangible ways too. At pick up my daughter came skipping out the schools waving a story she and the intern written about the reasons the tooth fairy was missing. Her teacher said she had never seen her write so much and the class had even joined in writing there own tooth fairy stories. She was excited to go home, put her tooth under her pillow and wait for a little magic to happen. I think it already did that day at school.
Unfortunately, Steele interns and paras are not provided by magic or pixie dust. There are funded by us as parents. We are asking each family to consider making a donation. Traci Mink, mom/PTA Fundraising officer
