[originaltext]M: How do you engage children, reduce the chances they will drop

M: How do you engage children, reduce the chances they will drop out and increase their chances of success? Tonight, we put some of those questions to the Council of Chief State School Officers’ 2012 Teacher of the Year, Rebecca Mieliwocki. She joins me now from Burbank, California, where she teaches seventh grade English at Luther Burbank Middle School. And, Rebecca, is this something you can feel yourself getting better at the longer you do it?
W: Oh. Oh, absolutely. That one of the brilliant things about this career is that the learning curve is enormous. You start out, and it’s such a struggle and you really feel like you’re finding your way every day. And at the end of the day, you know 100 percent more than you knew at the start, and at the end of the year the feeling of accomplishment is tremendous. And that just builds on itself. So about five years in, you start to hit your stride and feel really confident about what you do. And I have been at it 15 years now and I know two things. I’m far better than 1 was when I started and I have a lot still to learn.
M: I have heard teachers talk about middle schoolers as being particularly tough to teach. What’s going on in kids these age intellectually, physically, socially that makes them a tough group?
W: Oh, my gosh. They’re a party coming and going. I can’t imagine a funner-funner? A teacher said funner—a more fun group of kids to teach. They have so much just native energy and enthusiasm about the world around them. And it’s my job to kind of harness that energy and that enthusiasm and direct it toward the things that I need them to learn as far as being 21st century communicators and thinkers and problem-solvers.
M: You often hear that teachers can tell who’s going to have trouble in high school early on, in the earlier grades. Do you agree with that?
W: I think what the best teachers are, are seekers. We are given a family’s child to teach. We’re given their most precious resource, their child. And our job is to send them out better than when they walk through the door. And better doesn’t necessarily mean that they can ace a standardized test. Better means that I have seen deep within each child what his or her unique potential is. And so great teachers give assignments that are seeking to find that resource within each child. So, we will give activities that require, you know, debating skills one day. And the next day, it will be a research skill, and the next day it will be artistic or musical because we’re looking for what each child’s native talent and capacity is, so that we can provide the education that child needs and help him or her find him or her best path to success.
M: Right.
This is the end of Conversation Two. Questions 6 to 10 are based on Conversation Two.
6. Who is Rebecca?
7. According to Rebecca, what is the learning curve for teachers?
8. How long has the woman been teaching?
9. What does the woman think of middle school students?
10. Why do teachers give various activities on different skills?