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SOU prof goes back to school Middle school, that is � he�s spending his sabbatical teaching in Talent By Tony Boom TALENT � A desire "to jump in feet-first to get into the reality of what schools are like these days" has a Southern Oregon University education professor teaching at Talent Middle School during his sabbatical. Steve Thorpe, associate professor of education, usually spends the school year instructing others who want to be teachers, studying the theoretical side of education, or on administrative duties. But the sabbatical goal � to do something different � has him working with sixth- through eighth-graders and their teachers. "It�s fun and very stimulating. I enjoy it a lot," said Thorpe. "I am accomplishing what I wanted: a change of pace and learning from the teachers and students." Thorpe doesn�t have a regular class of students. He serves as a team teacher, working with the 16 middle school faculty who offer language arts and social studies instruction. He is also a permanent substitute, ready to fill in as needed. And he�s helping with curriculum development. A variety of tasks helps Thorpe explore the full range of middle school activities. He may teach a unit of social studies for a day or a week. Then he might supervise enrichment labs, where students watch an educational channel on TV or take turns reading a book. Thorpe was interested in how state-mandated education reforms had affected schools. The reforms call for students to demonstrate abilities in language arts, math, science and social science to earn a Certificate of Initial Mastery and later a Certificate of Advance Mastery. He also wanted to see how greater partnership activities between local schools and SOU�s education department had affected the schools. By learning how students prepare to take exams and prepare portfolios to demonstrate the state-mandated proficiency, Thorpe hopes to better prepare upcoming student teachers for the challenges they will face in the classroom. When he returns to SOU, Thorpe said he will stress to his student teachers a greater need for reading and language arts skills instruction. "I see a strong emphasis (at Talent Middle School) in reading and language arts, and that�s very important for the students," Thorpe said. "Students are influenced by the world around them. With both video and computers, reading is important." Thorpe will encourage new teachers to expand students� horizons. "Greater global awareness is something the students need," said Thorpe. "We all tend to be geocentric." He also will help teachers expand students� time frames. "They are lost in the time they�re in now, and don�t see linkages to earlier history," he said. The professor is making himself part of middle school life, said TMS Principal Patti Kinney. "It gives him a sense of what teachers are facing on a daily basis," she said. "There are college professors who lose perspective on what it means to be a teacher. I admire his coming," said Stephanie Aguirre, who is working with Thorpe. "He can see what kids are like and the changes in curriculum." "I don�t know many professors who would be in class and do more than visit," said teacher Gary Laipply. "He�s doing it all." Laipply likes the worldly experiences that Thorpe, who lived and taught in China, brings to the classroom. Thorpe has taught sessions to demystify the Chinese language. Students are usually baffled by the difference between the alphabet and the Chinese character. Thorpe had them read a book with a mix of English and Chinese. A glossary of characters helped the students translate the story. Eighth-grader Mike Hudson, 14, liked "learning how to speak Chinese" and reading books out loud with other students when Thorpe was his teacher. "I like it when he tells us about where he�s been and brings in stuff," said eighth-grader Chelsa Keefer, 13.Thorpe will continue to teach at the middle school until February. Then he will go to Guanajuato, Mexico, to work on exchange programs between Ashland High and SOU and the University of Guanajuato. The middle school teachers� lessons to students on foreign nations provided him with an insight into what keeps students interested. While many educators say studies need to be relevant to the student, he found students were fascinated with China and Japan. "They were intrigued about something entirely different," he said. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.