
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 2, 1994                   TAG: 9405030012
SECTION: NEWSFUN                    PAGE: NF-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TEACHER OF THE WEEK

Edwin Kinser's list of classroom inventory may border on bizarre to those who aren't familiar with Shawsville Middle/High School's ``Road Kill King.'' Bones, skins and feet from dead animals are a few of the learning tools Kinser has used in his seventh-grade science class.

It's not only the dead, however, that Kinser's pupils study. The 21-year-teaching veteran loves to bring samples from his own menagerie of animals to school. Snakes, birds, rabbits and dwarf goats (``mammals with personality,'' he calls them) are some of the frequent visitors to his classroom.

But Kinser says his classroom is not a zoo, but a place where pupils can get a real feel for nature. ``Sometimes seventh-graders have trouble visualizing. If they can see the real thing and put their hands on it, that's 10 times better.''

His philosophy seems to work. ``Mr. Kinser's seventh-grade students have gained a great deal of knowledge about everything from worms to ecology and genetics. Students feel they have learned from Mr. Kinser to be nice to animals and have enjoyed interacting with visiting goats, hissing cockroaches and other critters,'' said the pupils who nominated him.

Married and the father of a son, Kinser enjoys hiking and spending time with his kids.

by CNB