Claire Shepley and Marijke Conklin                                                               

2nd-3rd Grade Special Day Class / First grade, Special Education Mild to Moderate

Bella Vista Elementary School

Oakland, CA

Where are you from?

(CS)

I was born in England and lived there until the age of 6 when my family moved to Martinsville, Indiana.  I went to college in Indiana and flew the coop soon afterwards to head westward.

(MC)

I was born in the Bay Area; our family moved to Saudi Arabia when I was three.   Seven years later, we moved to Washington, DC.  I went to college and worked in New York City and Latin America.  I moved back to the East Bay a few years ago. 

What journey did you take to become a teacher?

(CS)

My mom is a special education teacher so I have always been exposed to and had an interest in teaching.  I have taught in many capacities.  Prior to classroom teaching, I spent time teaching adaptive skiing, horseback riding and canoeing to people with disabilities,  and I taught an emotional growth curriculum to struggling teens on 60-day wilderness therapy backpacking and

canoe trips.  I also taught in the field of environmental education.  A

desire to settle down (just a tiny bit) and connect for longer periods of time with my students brought me to classroom teaching.

(MC)

I’ve always been drawn to the processes of inquiry, explanation, guidance, advocacy and exploration; the core skills that make us educators. I come from a family of teachers.  My grandparents were teachers; my mother started her teaching career in Oakland when Marcus Foster was superintendent.  My experiences as a student were very positive.  In Riyadh we studied history, writing, music, art, drama, sports, French and Arabic.  At School Without Walls in DC, the city was our classroom.  I had the opportunity to take college classes as well as work at the Holocaust Museum and in HIV/AIDS peer outreach.  In college, I was introduced to critical theory and cultural studies.  I find interdisciplinary scholarship to have tremendous potential to influence how we approach education from primary grades through academia.

How was teaching been different than your initial expectations?

(CS)

Teaching has been an absolute joy.  Last year was my first year teaching and after the first few months of turbulence passed, the rest was been so rewarding.  I didn't expect to see such drastic changes and improvements in my students.  It has been thrilling, inspiring and challenging all at the same time.

(MC)

I enjoy being with students more than I could have imagined.  I assumed teaching reading and math to first graders would be relatively simple.  Instead, it has required all the analytic, creative and managerial skills I can conjure!  Teaching is intellectually  nourishing in ways I didn't expect.  My interest in linguistics, disability studies and discourse have deepened as a result of exposure to institutions of urban public education.

How do you incorporate service learning into your curriculum?

(CS)

Last year, we practiced taking care of the environment around us.  We learned about how people who take pride in their community have to work to keep it nice.  We also learned how our actions can impact others.  As a culminating experience we learned about how peoples' litter impacts ocean life and made a statement with 1300 other elementary students as we gathered on Ocean Beach in San Francisco for a beach clean up.  At the end of the clean up we were posed in the formation of a whale with the word protect written above it.  An aerial artist flew over in a helicopter to take some

pictures which were in many of the local news papers.  It was also covered on the local news as "bay area kids taking pride in their beaches."  This year, as a result of the A+ for Energy Grant, we will be working hard to beautify our school through art and gardening.  We will also learn a bit about solar power along the way to help the students continue to become good stewards of our environment.

(MC)

Our first service learning project, “Cross Country Connections,” aimed to broaden students' geographic awareness via a pen pal initiative between first graders on each coast.  Students in my class wrote back and forth with first graders in the DC Public Schools.  We learned about Washington, DC through books.   But the lesson exploded off  the map when they received that first letter and picture from a fellow student.  They were like, “What?  There is someone my age doing what I do everyday on the other side of the country?” And, “Who wrote me a letter?” For some of them it was the first time they received letters, which seemed like presents.  At six years old, children are just beginning to grasp that something exists outside their world.  For all of them, the act of imagining beyond our classroom, our school, our city, our state, was powerful.  I have never seen students so quick to pick up a pencil and start writing as when they are responding to a friend across the country. 

The following year, students and parents from Bella Vista’s special education classrooms attended the annual “Ocean Day Kids Clean Up” in San Francisco.  Before attending, students participated in lessons about pollution, sea life, oceans and water.  We discussed how water drains to the bay, and how trash can harm animals and water.  We watched a slide show about the how litter destroys the environment.  We rode three forms of  public transportation across the bay: AC Transit, BART and Muni.  Once we arrived, that first powerful gust of sea air sent waves of glee through our group.  We joined other Bay Area classes to comb the beach and separate recyclable materials from garbage.  It was the first time many students had taken BART or visited the beach. 

This year we will implement “Cultivating Natural Curiosity,” a year-long energy education program.  Through the BP A+ for Energy Program we received $10,000 to cultivate an “edible” organic garden and harness solar energy to cook our crops.  The purpose of this project is to engage children in crafting creative solutions to finding renewable sources of energy.  This project will raise awareness of local and global environmental issues while introducing an interdisciplinary curriculum in kinesthetic modalities.

What impact has service learning made in your classroom?

(CS)

My students still talk about our trip to Ocean Beach last year for the beach clean up.  They remind me often of the skills we learned and are able to transfer those ideas into the school community.  "Ms. Shepley, remember when we went to ocean beach last year?" a student recalls while working on an art project last week.  "I saw some trash on the playground at recess and I picked it up today because I didn't want it to go to the ocean and hurt an animal," he continued.  My face quickly lit up as it does when my students

show their brilliance and I quickly praised him for his good memory and shared it with the rest of the class.

(MC)

The primary impact has been on my students' intellectual success.  They understand more, ask more questions and want to learn more.  What makes service learning so crucial in meeting California State Standards is that students learn through engagement and reflection.  Often, students are absorbing information passively through sitting and listening, playing video games, watching television, interfacing with computers and completing worksheets.  In contrast, service learning has encouraged my students to interact with knowledge in a structured and proactive way. 

How have you grown in your teaching?

(CS)

This year being my second year in the classroom, I realize how much more comfortable I feel.  It was a definite area of growth for me to really excel in breaking concepts down to the very start so I could properly present them to the 2nd and 3rd grade students with special needs that I work with.  As a result, I have become much more sequential and thorough as I teach.  I also have a good grasp on positive behavior supports and have found great success in creating a really nurturing and positive climate in my classroom.

(MC)

It sounds cliché, but every day I grow as an educator.  Every day, you learn how to do something better.  I’m always working at balance between teacher-provided structure and student-driven decision making.  I’m trying to embed high-level academics in meaningful activities.  I am learning how to become a successful advocate for my students by having high expectations and participating socially and politically.

What books would you recommend people read?

(CS)

The Little Prince by Antoine St. Exupery.  It'll keep you young, remind you to cherish the simple things.  It's short and fun, won't bog you down with words and philosophies.  What more do you need!

(MC)

Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner, The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould, Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire,  The Teacher's Body by Freedman and Holmes, Teaching to Transgress by bell hooks, Enforcing Normalcy by Leonard Davis, Discipline and Punish by Michel Foucault.    

What piece of knowledge, wisdom and understanding would you impart to your following TEAMS Fellows from your experience?

(CS)

I have been wowed by what the students have been capable of...I'm positive that kids can learn just about anything if they are taught in a way that is accessible to them.

(MC)

Get active in your room, at your site, and in the community.  Go visit your students at home.  Invite the whole family into the classroom.  Get students to perform.  Attend professional development and union meetings.  Apply for grants!  Connect with teachers in other districts, nationwide and internationally. Strive for conscientious and empathetic practice as a teacher, student and advocate.  Use the service learning project as a portal through which students can achieve academic excellence and social connections with a  wider community.