Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 28, 1991 TAG: 9103010582
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She seemed oblivious to the fact that she was surrounded by about 40 5- and 6-year-olds and a crowd of aspiring teachers from Virginia Western Community College who were there to observe her.
In every corner of the room, children were spooning marbles from one bowl to another, drawing chalk circles on the blackboard and putting numbered pieces of cardboard in order. Each child was involved in a different activity, and each had a moment of undivided attention from Paitsell or another teacher, as though he or she were the only child there.
It was a normal day in the modified Montessori program Paitsell has designed for the Roanoke County private school, said Elizabeth Holt, director of the lower school. It is a program that school officials hope will continue when Paitsell retires at the end of the year.
With 29 years at North Cross behind her, Paitsell has been at the school longer than any other teacher. During the school's recent annual Founder's Day program, when Paitsell was recognized for her contribution to the school, students who had been in her classes were asked to raise their hands. Almost all of the 500-member student body put their hands up.
Those students included her daughter, Dawn Lukens, who now teaches at North Cross; Dawn's son, Charles Lukens, a first-grader; and sixth-grader Ken Teeter, the son of Paitsell's other daughter, Fara.
Paitsell came to North Cross in 1962, when the school itself was a year old and in one building. It had only eight grades, including kindergarten. Today there are five buildings that house all grades through 12.
She was born in rural south Georgia, in a town called Broxton, and began teaching at the age of 18, after two years at South Georgia Junior College. Several years later, she went to Georgia Southern University and earned a bachelor's degree.
In 1946, she married her husband, Jim, who worked for the Norfolk and Western Railway.
"He was so excited about what I was doing," she said. "He was a booster and an admirer of North Cross." Jim died in 1983.
Fourteen years after she came to North Cross, John Tucker, who was the headmaster at that time, asked Paitsell to explore the possibility of setting up a Montessori program at the school. Paitsell jumped at the chance because "I had always wanted to know something about it."
The concept of a "hands-on" method of teaching that emphasized daily living and tactile skills and used techniques that children use to learn naturally, appealed to her.
"They are learning, and they don't realize they are," she said.
She took classes at the University of Alabama and went to workshops around the country before slowly phasing in the program by 1976.
It is still being used today, along with more traditional methods. This combination has brought attention to the program from other schools in the Roanoke Valley, Holt said.
Each year, Marsha Protinski, head of early childhood education at Virginia Western, brings her classes over to watch Paitsell and ask questions. "Virginia has a wonderful way of monitoring [the children's] development," Protinski said.
"We're really working on the self-esteem of the child," Paitsell said. Each child works at his or her own level, and doesn't go on to the next step until mastering each skill.
The children are kept so busy that they don't have time to compare their progress with that of their classmates, she said.
"It's a method that parents tell us they like," Paitsell said.
Holt said that when Paitsell retires, she will be missed by everyone. "Everyone has been pretty emotional about it. She's a real source of inspiration for all of us."
But Paitsell will still serve as a consultant, Holt said. "We'll find a lot of ways to put her to work. She's very much a part of the life of the whole school, not just the kindergarten."
Paitsell said North Cross is "almost an extended family" and "will always be near and dear to my heart."
But, she said, "I just feel I've done my job."
But in a way, it will be as though she never left. Dawn Lukens, who has been teaching at the school for 12 years, will take over from her mother as director of kindergarten.
After a nationwide search for a replacement for Paitsell, Holt said, school officials decided that Lukens, who had been teaching second grade, was best qualified for the job.
"We were looking for someone who was willing to step into a program that was already well-established, Holt said.
For the past year Lukens has been working with her mother, learning her methods. "It's been a wonderful experience," Lukens said.
Paitsell said she is not really looking forward to retiring. She hopes to do a lot of church work and visit Florida. "I'd love to go to my home in Georgia," she said. Her family there is very close.
Keywords:
PROFILE
by CNB