ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 21, 1996 TAG: 9604220059
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-14 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Minnesota teacher Mary Beth Blegen no longer spends hours preparing multiple-choice tests or lecturing students on how to write good essays. Students keep asking questions, but she's giving fewer answers.
It's part of a teaching philosophy that has earned the high school teacher from Worthington, Minn., top honors as national Teacher of the Year.
``I have come to believe that the most important thing I can do for students is to allow them a chance for self-discovery,'' says Blegen, who will be recognized by President Clinton at a White House ceremony Tuesday.
Blegen and her students read, discuss, write and argue. She challenges them to think about what they are learning and why.
Be it Vietnam or Picasso, Blegen helps her students believe they have valuable thoughts to express and write. That helps them learn about themselves and begin their own walk through life, she says.
``We teachers are here to serve the needs of the students, not awaken our students to our own truths,'' Blegen says. ``We need to ask `What are kids taking from our classroom into their world?'''
LENGTH: Short : 31 linesby CNB