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This is part of an occasional series on members of the
2006 All-USA Teacher Team, USA TODAY's recognition
program for outstanding K-12 teachers. Winners share $2,500 awards with their schools.
To nominate a teacher for the 2007 team, visit allstars.usatoday.com.
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Patti Ball calls her 31 students a family, not a class.
"Wes, model for Jason on how to listen. Fifth-graders, you should be working hardest," Ball instructs.
That's how it works in her classroom, where students stay for three years. Older children set the example for younger ones, and each child works at his or her own level.
Ball started teaching a multi-age class 10 years ago and still has the only three-grade classroom in the Corvallis School District.
She's a firm believer in the multi-age model for all kids, but especially here at Lincoln Elementary. About 90% of Lincoln students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and the population is about 30% Hispanic. Students come to school with varying academic skills, and many have special needs.
"She makes sure she does things to reach every student in the classroom," principal Oscar Moreno-Gilson says. "She has special-education students whom she does miracles with."
Ball, 56, says the multi-age structure allows her to get to know her students and their needs. "We don't have to relearn about each other each September," she says.
She helps the students understand that everyone has different skills and abilities -- and makes sure that each feels like an expert in something.
That way, it's no big deal if a fifth-grader is reading with a third-grader, or vice versa.
"Each grade gets different work," says fourth-grader Matt Bressler, 9.
Ball says she teaches her students, "You don't just do what the teacher tells you. You're in charge of your education. I'm here to help."
When entering her class in third grade, each child is given a recipe-card box and a stack of index cards. Over the next three years, they'll keep track of key concepts they have learned, everything from empathy to geometry. Ball calls it the "Knowledge Box," and it's handy on each child's desk.
To track each student's progress, Ball carries several clipboards, noting assignments, test scores and more. She keeps handy a portfolio of test scores and work samples for each child.
She tries to let kids choose their own ways of expressing their understanding of a topic, and she meets with each one at least once a week to make sure they all feel challenged.
Although each child is working at his or her own level, the class is brought together by hands-on projects and field trips that tie in with the curriculum.
Ball's students write books for new mothers at the hospital and build research projects that go to the county fair. They have visited museums, forest demonstrations and the symphony.
They once decorated their entire room as an underwater world, complete with handmade fish hanging from the ceiling, while studying the ocean.
And in 2001, Ball was awarded the Oregon Education Excellence Award for her leadership involving more than 100 third- through fifth-grade students building a 1-acre school forest.
Ball obtained property and got donations of dirt and seedlings. She and her students made a model of the western half of Oregon, complete with Coast and Cascade ranges, and invited forestry experts to teach.
More recently, Ball created a bilingual school garden, with stepping stones and signs in English and Spanish.
In a year fraught with challenges -- the school is converting to a bilingual model and is adding a middle school -- Ball has been a positive force, Moreno-Gilson says.
Ball is the only teacher who regularly attends PTO meetings. She recruits volunteers into the school and solicits business donations for field trips. And she serves as a mentor to younger teachers.
"She's such a down-to-earth person with all these leadership skills," Moreno-Gilson says. "She goes the extra mile."
Tracy Loew reports daily for
the Statesman Journal in Salem.
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