The cafeteria had been set up for it. The standard student lunch tables had been set out that filled a fairly large tiled room that was painted brightly which in its own way, which Martha marveled at in her own way. It fit with some of the things that Martha expected and even remembered from the school she had taught in in Minnesota and the schools that Nate and Eric had both gone to. She had some nervousness about starting over in a new place, though much of that was also placing behind her worries for her youngest son. If Julie did make him a weremer, Martha hoped it was for love and that mermaid was gentle and tender to Eric.
Nervousness at meeting new people rapidly left as the school's vice-principal had been friendly and Martha thought the woman had been slightly aroused as she directed Martha to the cafeteria. Her inner cat was intrigued by it, especially by the fact that while the vice principal wasn't a werecat, a cougar was a feline species, though Martha's look through the Moon Lake handbook had revealed that werecougars were like weretigers, werelions, and wereleopards/panthers and had both male and female members. She'd also found herself in friendly conversation with Dawn Hale, a werefox and a fourth grade teacher.
"Five minutes," Dawn commented, "best to get seated. You can sit with me. All of us, subs included go through the same things on in-service days."
"Thank you," Martha answered, "you're most kind."
"The town is always tight knit," Dawn smiled, "and you live next to the Twists, right?"
"Right?" Martha nodded.
"Then your husband is William Anderson, the one the rogue clawed?" Dawn asked as they sat down at one of the lunch tables, setting down her own coffee and donuts as she did so.
"Yes," Martha answered, "He will be inducted into the Skulk tonight and as his wife... I'll be a honorary member."
Martha then sat down beside Dawn and began to flip through the folder that contained the information for the days activities. Many of them related to what she had been studying to renew her certification and all of them seemed to put a reference to putting children first. That made sense, but as she had followed things over the years in the news with regard to the laws related to education, that opinions on how to put children first always varied.
"Yes," Dawn commented, "and it is good to meet new members of my den."
Martha blinked over to Dawn.
"I live a few houses down from the Twists, you and your husband live next to them, right?" Dawn asked.
"Yes, we do," Martha answered, "you're the local den leader?"
"Not the den leader," Dawn gave a smile, "but I am a member of it. We'll all be seated together in the main Skulk meetings when we have them... but that'll be something to chat over later."
Martha then watched as the werevixen pointed forward. Martha looked to see a couple, well dressed but nothing super formal moved to stand up front next to the principal near a small slide projector. They were older, looking like they were between fifty or seventy years old, though they were far enough away from Martha that the scents of the weres around her intermingled, so she couldn't tell if these two were weres or normals. There was a small microphone in front of the three of them and after a few moments, Samuel Johnson stepped forward.
"Good morning everyone, and welcome to all our substitutes, thank you for coming in," Samuel Johnson spoke politely and then scanned the cafeteria and all the gather teachers that were there. When his eyes found Martha they settled on her. "And a special welcome to new substitutes who have recently joined us and have expressed further interest in teaching here in Moon Lake. We wish you the best and hope you enjoy being on staff..."
All eyes turned to Martha for a moment, and a few people clapped. She thought she heard a few cries of welcome echo softly before the principal finished his address to her.
"And do not worry... since subs in Moon Lake are called in for in-service days, you will get a yearly salary as a substitute," Samuel Johnson said politely, "though, I'm sure the people at the Central Office told you that. It'll be well lower than a standard teacher's salary... but it's also better than only paying you on the days you sub..."
Martha blinked and then nodded. She didn't recall the Central Office staff telling her, but it might have been something that skipped their mind. It wouldn't matter too much though. If she got her certification updated and hired on as a regular teacher, being paid as a sub wouldn't be too big of an issue. As she thought that over, Samuel Johnson returned to his main task.
"With that, I will turn things over to Julia and Franz Eidlemann, who have come with the various tips and tricks to help keep everyone professionally ready for the school year and perhaps further," Samuel Johnson then finished and hand the microphone over to the woman, while her partner, likely husband, moved over to the slide projector.
"Hello, all of you," Julia Eidlemann said softly, "it is good to visit you all in Moon Lake. My husband and I go around the country and bring all sorts of new ideas that help teachers everywhere, and they come from studies that all work and they will be beneficial to all of you, whether you're here full time or substituting. We will include some various direct talks... presentations, a half-hour break for lunch, and some fun group activities that will demonstrate just how critical all these things are."
While she talked her husband turned on the slide projector, and Martha watched as it began to protect a picture of a typical classroom centered around a singular blackboard and a lone teacher standing in front of it. Written in bold letters was "Modern Teaching Techniques." He would then flick through various slides.
"We'll start with a presentation about what makes modern teaching important and what makes it work," Julia spoke as the slide switched a black and white photo of an old 1800s schoolhouse, though the photo also looked staged with a lone teacher and several young students in it. "Now... many may remember a time when education was treated as a very much top down institution. That teachers are the sole source of knowledge and that their job was to essentially "copy and paste" information into the minds of students. We see this in many of the old ways of teaching that included a teacher saying what they want the student to learn and then immediately testing the student on it.."
Martha watched as Julia calmly walked around the area that the slide projector was set up on.
"And for a time, this system appeared to work," Julia spoke, "as if students got the right answers on the tests, it was assumed that they learned the lesson. However, we know now that this is the farthest thing from the truth."
The slide then switched to show a list of words, which ran with: 1) regurgitate and forget, 2) no student interest, 3) doesn't teach all students, and 4) no discovery.
"For one thing... the simple presentation by a teacher of information doesn't mean the student truly learns anything beyond what the teacher wants to see or hear on the test," Julia spoke, "and this portion was heavily hammered into students when many of these tests were vocal and given in front of the class. When told that they got the material wrong, the student is surely ostracized by his/her piers and embarrassed by it. The students then only respond by giving the answers they think the teacher wants to hear or see, but once the testing on that stops... they forget it completely. That isn't real learning, and it's more a situation that's akin to the "Pavlov's dog" case. They'll do what will get them the reward, but nothing more... and it won't really matter how often you get students to repeat the assigned task."
"I actually went through an elementary, middle, and high school that went through that sort of teaching strategy... for me, I was interested in a few things... but was never that big on history or government... and because of the way I was taught... there is a LOT that I simply forgot once I no longer needed to pass the tests on it," Franz chimed in.
"And on a related note... that system generates no real student interest in the subject," Julia continued, "students know it's important to give the answers to the teacher but it doesn't interest the student for their own benefit. And if they don't want to learn it, that will only further the regurgitate and forget point. It's where as educators... following the old ways never works. Students ONLY learn the right lesson when they want to learn it. And this is something that's important to remember regardless of whether your here full time or are a sub and may be sent to one of the other schools too sub. A middle school and high school teacher much hold the student's interest just as much as you will at the elementary... and some of our activities later will demonstrate ideas that will hold student attention at their respective grade levels..."
Martha watched as Julia went on. The woman now began to walk up and down the aisles between the tables that they were all seated at. She took some relevant notes on her talking points, but to a great extent, nothing that Mrs. Eidlemann had yet differed from anything she had studied.
"There is also the issues of how students learn," Julia spoke, "some learn visually... some learn audibly... some learn through physical action... some learn socially... and so on. Simply lecturing and telling students what to learn may help some students... but not them all. And in some cases there is of course the differentiation that will be required for students that are at different levels, even in the same grade. Every lesson must be tailored to fit EVERY student. Otherwise... you'll only be teaching part of your class."
"I had a classmate who learned well audibly," Franz added, "songs that worked with information helped him out quite a bit. Books and things like that not so much. His parents ultimately helped him with the "School House Rock" series... and he was great in the High School Band... but he struggled with teachers that relied on lectures and reading books. He was really a case where teachers sticking to the old way really failed him."
Julia nodded, "and in the end the old way... it also meant there was no discovery. The teacher only presents the answer, which isn't learning. Learning should always be an adventure, and students always learn more when they find it out for themselves, and usually from sources aside from the teacher. Group work... puzzles... projects that let the students discover for themselves gives them the sense of discovery... an adventure where they aren't simply being told what the answer is."
The slide then changed to show a cartoon woman pulling her hair out.
"The end result of the old way is this," Julia pointed to the slide image on the wall, earning a few chuckles, "students ultimately rebel and become unruly and resist against instruction. I've seen this time and time again as an educator. Students don't like the old way of teaching and despite how it looked... it DIDN'T work. And as a consequence, it drew our image of a teacher nuts."
The slide then changed to a color photo of more modern looking classroom with a teacher walking through a collection of students as they worked on various looking projects. It had the title of: The New Way. Julia Eidlemann then went on with that with regard to teamwork, directly talking or "lecturing" for no more than five minutes of any given class period, ambient music that worked well with education, limiting the use of worksheets, because that boiled down to busy work, and creating projects that would create creativity on the part of students. She didn't necessarily demand that the practice and review be dropped, but also made the implication that being repetitive wasn't practical.
Martha took the most critical notes, as there were a few things here and there that differed from when she last taught in Minnesota... about sixteen years ago, before Nate was born, but much of what Mrs. Eidlemann said touched what Martha had in her study guides already. Martha also had some private doubts on how "workable" some of Mrs. Eidlemann's points were. Her slideshow was only a brief overview and outline, but to a certain extent, there were certain points that she touched on that in Martha's on past experience didn't work as Mrs. Eidlemann advertised them. In pure theory they did work or were very workable ideas, but theory and practice were often two very different things. However, without up to date certification, she didn't say anything, as some the later presentations and activities would perfect the ways to make the theoretical ideas practical. She also didn't want to sound overly critical of someone who had been called in to provide information that related to professional development.