Focus on TUSD - March 2007

TUSD Wrap Up
African American Studies launches family reading initiative
The Family Reading Initiative, a collaboration between African American Studies and Pima County Public Library, kicked-off a yearlong program designed to enhance the home literacy environments of 36 African American families last month at a community celebration held at Quincie Douglas Library.

"Each family has committed to intergenerational literacy activities which include reading together for fifteen minutes each day and spending one hour a week together in "Family Hang Time" to play games, or work puzzles, without the television or electronic games," wrote Larry Haynes, director of African American Studies for the District.

At the conclusion of the program, successful families will be identified as "Family Literacy Leaders" and will assist in planning next year's initiative and advocating for stronger literacy practices for other families throughout the community, Haynes wrote in an e-mail. In this way, family literacy practices will be increasingly spread at a grass-roots level.

Community Partners of the Family Reading Initiative include: PRO Neighborhoods, Reading Seed, The Africana Studies Program within the College of Humanities, World Care, Grace Temple Baptist Church, Rising Star Missionary Baptist Church, Christ Community Church, and Fry's Food Stores.

"Four more community gatherings will be planned to celebrate the progress of our families and will consist of workshops, book discussions and storytelling along with music, ethnic foods, crafts and games," said Haynes' e-mail. Cultural sharing will be a part of the celebrations, exploring literacy traditions of other ethnic groups represented in Pima County, extending literacy advocacy into the larger community, he concluded.

Pabst elected to national association
Joni Pabst, assistant principal at Sahuaro High School, is president-elect of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA). The following information is a paraphrase from the NFHS News: Since 2005, Pabst has been assistant principal of athletics and activities at Sahuaro. She held the same position at Santa Rita High School for eight years. Prior to being an administrator, Pabst worked as a teacher and coach at several schools in Arizona and Arkansas.

Nationally, Pabst has earned acclaim for her role as vice chair of the NIAAA Awards Committee and as an at-large member of the NIAAA Board of Directors. She has been recognized as the NFHS Cross Country Official of the Year (Arizona, 1991), and has been awarded both the NIAA State Award of Merit (1999) and NFSH Citation (2005).
At the state level, Pabst has served the Arizona Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (AIAAA) for 12 years as president, treasurer and state convention coordinator. She currently is president of the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) Executive Board.

Pabst received the AIAAA Distinguished Service Award in 2002; she was named the organization's Athletic Director of the Year in 2003; she received the AIAAA Citation Award in 2005; and she was a finalist for the AIA Everyday Heroes Administrator of the Year in 2004.

'Paw Pride' poetry at Lineweaver
"ZOOM, KAPOW, BANG, BOOM...CHITTY-CHITTY"...those were some of the words reverberating from Kathleen Hannan's portable last month. It was Lineweaver Elementary School's first "Second-Grade Poetry Slam" that had the room rappin' and reelin', rockin' and rollin', and hippin' and hoppin'.

Hannan, a first-year teacher at Lineweaver, loves poetry and the spoken word. Focus received an e-mail with details on the poetry slam:

"When she approached her students on how they wanted to celebrate Love of Reading Week, they responded, all at once and very loudly, that they wanted to read poetry to each other. With that in mind, Hannan contacted two local poets, Albert Lannon and Kaitlin Meadows, to assist with a Poetry Slam, a genre popular with young people today. They are both active in the local slam scene, and have authored 'chapbooks,' which are written journals of a bit of their best work.

"With delight and enthusiasm, Albert and Kaitlin signed on to serve the second-grade cause. In adult Slams, the poets read their original work. They sign up to read one poem. In the audience there are "judges," who rate each poem on a scale of 1 to 10. Everyone gets a score. The scores are then tallied and the top five readers go on to compete in a second round. The winner is the poet with the highest score at the end of two rounds. The audience is encouraged to participate, emboldened to be boisterous -- the more boisterous, the better. All poems and poets are appreciated and valued for their verse. All are honored for being brave enough to stand up and deliver.

"Hannan went to the Lineweaver Library and checked out 30 books of poetry. She read a bit from each book and introduced the book covers to the students. They were asked to prepare to read two poems each. The students spent a day poring through and perusing the books, searching for their favorite poems to share with the class. Once they had chosen, they wrote down the name of their poems and poets, books, and page numbers. Then, they practiced their poems, reading alone and to each other, in pairs and small groups.

"The students not reading became the four judges. They were given white boards and markers so they could record their score and hold it up for all to see. In the end, 23 students recited. Two students read a poem together and four performed a four-part read. One of the students recited her two poems completely from memory. Her dog had eaten her notes.

"Some of the poets chosen were Jack Prelutsky, Marilyn Singer, Joan Bransfield Graham, James Stevenson, Mary Ann Hoberman, and Shel Siverstein. The four students who had the highest scores received medals, crowns and a book as their prizes. All students were given a certificate for participating. As the Slam closed and the podium was getting tucked away for next year, two students approached Hannan. 'Could we have a Drawing Show now?' they inquired..."

The school's first Second-Grade Drawing show was March 12; more on that in the April Focus.

Rincon names new coach
Rincon High School has appointed Pat Ryden as its head football coach. Ryden teaches at Carson Middle School and was an assistant football coach at Canyon del Oro High School in the 2006 football season.

Mission View educator receives grant
Manuela Quintero, a preschool teacher at Mission View Elementary School, received a $1,000 Target Field Trip Grant to take 100 students to the Ballet Hispano at Centennial Hall on the University of Arizona campus earlier this month.

The Target Field Trip Grant Program was launched in September 2006 because of increasing budget shortages in public schools. The program is intended to help educators provide experiential learning through field trips to enhance their students' classroom studies.

TUSD - Proud Supporter of Small Classes

Unless otherwise noted, all photos in the March issue by Jes Ruvalcaba of Communications & Media Relations.

The deadline to submit material for the April Focus is Friday, April 6. The Focus will be published Friday, April 13. Email submissions to Chyrl Hill Lander or Sharon Dunham in the Communications & Media Relations Department or use the Focus Online Submission Form.