Focus on TUSD - December 2006

Raptis a Rodel Winner at Blenman
When Anita Raptis takes attendance in her third-grade classroom, it's like a roll call for a mini-United Nations: Hawa from Somalia, Fahim from Afghanistan and Alondra from Mexico. They sit side by side at Blenman Elementary School, where their teacher was recently named one of seven finalists in the Rodel Charitable Foundation's Arizona Exemplary Teacher Initiative.

As a Rodel winner, Raptis will mentor University of Arizona seniors for three years, earning $10,000 in savings bonds at the conclusion.

That job should be effortless for Raptis after teaching students for many years who come to her from far flung countries. This year, her students represent only four foreign languages, but she's had as many as six languages spoken in her room, such as Vietnamese, Farsi from Afghanistan, Chinese, Russian, and African languages.

For most students, it's their first encounter with English.
Rapits speaks only Spanish.

"I was scared as a teacher how well they would learn if they can't understand me," she admitted. "But it comes together. I take them aside and help them individually when I need to."

And when they do begin speaking English, Raptis is as excited as they are. She recalled a Chinese student who began speaking English by whispering into her ear, a word at a time, before she would speak out loud. Blenman has three Structured English Immersion classes at every grade level.

Besides teaching them their new language, Raptis listens to their stories, a bridge connecting students from one culture to another. Raptis heard a Somalian student talk about a lion eating a sheep outside his hut and others recount family deaths common in war-torn countries. Kids are resilient, she said, but she takes their life experiences into account during their school day. "We have to remember that homework may not be the most important thing in the world to them," she said.

But students also touch on the good times, too. "They're shining because they're talking about their lives," Raptis said. "Every day is a challenge to teach them. There is something new every day."

Her mission is always there even when she leaves the classroom. "In the middle of the night, I wake up and think of a way to help them, to help them behave better in class and to meet their individual needs."

She sees her students as a classroom family. "We have only one rule," she said. "We respect each other. If we do that, it covers everything else."

 

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