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11-08-05
By Teresa Carp, 541-737-9057
SOURCE: Eileen Waldschmidt, 541-737-3576
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Children bob around a classroom like balloons while they compare notes on their new friends. Some kids proudly introduce them by name - there's Jose Jr. and Big Boy and two dozen others. Never mind that they're mealworms, the cosmetically challenged larvae of darkling beetles. Having gotten well past the "eeewww" factor, the kids are thrilled to study the creatures. Chatting rapidly in Spanish, teacher Eileen Waldschmidt cheerfully directs the activity.
 Eileen Waldschmidt teaches class at Lincoln Elementary School in Corvallis. Click on image to go to downloadable photo |
Waldschmidt stepped in for Lural Ramirez, who had been a student teacher under her at OSU. When Ramirez knew she would be taking maternity leave from Lincoln Elementary School in Corvallis, she asked Waldschmidt to take over for her in her absence. The Corvallis School District and OSU's College of Education have a close partnership that made it possible for them to easily cut the red tape to make it happen.
Waldschmidt didn't go in blindfolded. She had been doing some volunteer work at the school and knew that teaching 27 kids full-time would be a real challenge. And she's gratified that she did it.
"It's the most exciting thing I've done in a long time," Waldschmidt said. "I've missed being with kids and school staff. I've missed a lot of things about classroom teaching."
Yes, even the bugs and the high decibel level.
Waldschmidt and her team teacher, Jessica Amburgey, oversee first- and second-graders at Lincoln, some 56 in all. Of those, 23 are not native speakers of English. Twenty-two speak Spanish, and one, Petra, 7, speaks Croatian and some Italian in addition to English and Spanish, making her the multilingual student in the bunch.
Like her deskmates, Jose, 7, and Thalia, 7, Petra slips seamlessly from English to Spanish and back again. They talk to their larvae in both languages, too, with Thalia blurting, "My daddy's going to build a little house for him!" and Petra confiding, "I think all the worms are going to turn into butterflies." That explains why she drew a butterfly on her notebook cover instead of a beetle.
Seven students are out sick today, but their classmates keep Waldschmidt hopping with their first science project of the school year. She teaches reading, writing, science and social studies, and Amburgey teaches English, reading, writing, and math.
Waldschmidt does all her teaching in Spanish so the English-speakers are becoming fluent in oral Spanish while acquiring English literacy from Amburgey. The bilingual approach extends to recess where Waldschmidt maintains order in a milling crowd, settling typical playground squabbles en Español.
Waldschmidt's academic and teaching background combined to ensure that "there were no surprises" when she stepped into the classroom.
"I knew I was going to be challenged by speaking Spanish all day and by teaching first- and second-graders because I had never taught those grades before," she said. Even so each day leaves her tired, albeit in a good way, she says.
Lincoln School has 290 students this year. Of them 30 percent are Latino, says school counselor Dominic Cusimano. Language isn't the only challenge. Lincoln is on the southern outskirts of town, and 90 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-fee lunches.
But, Cusimano says, school staff and families don't dwell on the differences and disadvantages, focusing instead on positives such as parental involvement. The school offers a monthly bilingual evening program for parents (a recent topic was "culture shock"). Turnout for the events is high.
Thanks to the federally funded Even Start program, parents can also participate in English language instruction at the school in the afternoon, and this has proved popular.
An afterschool program, funded by a five-year 21st Century grant, involves the Boys and Girls Clubs, field trips, and other enrichment activities. About 125 students participate in that program.
Waldschmidt's involvement is definitely one of the pluses, Cusimano says. "It's been wonderful to have her here," he said, not just because of the immediate need for a substitute teacher but also because of the expertise and enthusiasm she brings to the classroom.
Ramirez will return to the classroom after Thanksgiving, and Waldschmidt will return to OSU, eager to apply to her academic activities what she's learned on the front lines of education. She plans to continue volunteering at Lincoln so she'll maintain her ties with the first- and second-graders along with Big Boy, Jose Jr., and the rest of the beetle bunch. She says she wouldn't have it any other way.
About Oregon State University: OSU is one of only two U.S. universities designated a land grant, sea grant, space grant and sun grant institution. Its more than 19,000 students come from all 50 states and more than 80 countries. OSU programs touch every county within Oregon, and its faculty teach and conduct research on issues of national and global importance.