But a different kind of excitement filled The Forum on Friday as new Rome area teachers and administrators were welcomed at the annual Brown Bag Luncheon, hosted by Northwest Georgia Credit Union.
“It was very welcoming and inviting to the school system,” said Haley Pyle, East Central Elementary’s new media specialist.
New teachers from city, county and private schools gathered at the luncheon to greet each other and hear from Georgia’s Teacher of the Year, Leanne Maule.
Maule, a 12th-grade British literature teacher at Cartersville High School, encouraged Rome’s new teachers to provide students with a way of learning that is real and meaningful.
“Go beyond the four walls of the classroom,” she said.
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Maule, who has taught for 10 years, emphasized the importance of having fun with learning, even in secondary education. “Somehow, we lose that (element of fun) after elementary school,” she said.
As part of a project for her British literature class, Maule and her students organized a Renaissance Festival. The high school seniors were assigned to create and run a booth at the festival, and to recreate a scene — in their own words — from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
More than 270 middle school students came to the festival, so Maule’s students were learning as well as teaching.
James Schroeder, a new history teacher at Model High School, is already planning creative ways to reach his new students through debates and other interactive lessons.
Maule’s advice for new teachers is to approach teaching from the perspective of the student. “We need to see learning through our students’ eyes,” Maule said. “We need to ask ourselves if it’s something we would want to do? Is it something we would be motivated to do? If you can answer ‘yes’ to those questions, then you’re on the right track.”
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