THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502250089
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALLISON WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FRANKLIN LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
WHEN FRANKLIN HIGH School's advanced building trades class pours concrete around the metal pipes poking from the bulldozed ground, they will be doing more than building a greenhouse.
These students are on the ground floor of educational reform at their school, said English teacher Ken Raybuck. By helping build the greenhouse, they will be laying a foundation of change that will better prepare Franklin High's graduates for today's workplace.
The new greenhouse is an offshoot of Franklin High's acceptance into High Schools That Work Program last year. Under the federally funded program, Franklin will get a renewable $15,000 grant for the next five years to invest in projects to strengthen the school's academic and vocational offerings.
The greenhouse will be home to a student-operated nursery from which people of the community will be able to buy plants and flowers, Raybuck said.
``Our plans are to have the building up and plants coming out of the greenhouse by the end of the school year,'' he said.
According to Raybuck, students will even have hands-on experience in planning the greenhouse.
``Students are like the rest of us,'' Raybuck said. ``We all learn more by doing something than hearing about it.''
While building trades and drafting classes are helping design and erect the greenhouse, science classes are busy analyzing soil samples, designing the irrigation system that will be used to grow the plants and studying plant propagation.
In art classes, students are making the baskets and pottery dishes that will hold the plants being sold.
Math students are designing financial accounts that will be used in the business, while English students are writing brochures promoting the greenhouse.
``But it's important to remember the greenhouse is not the objective of the program,'' Raybuck said. ``Rather, it is a visible means to achieve objectives that will enhance instruction and strengthen our curriculum.''
The grant funds other programs designed to meet these objectives, including an after-school tutoring service and sessions to train teachers in classroom management and curriculum integration methods, he said.
Students are already benefiting from this new vocational thrust to traditionally academic-oriented classes, said junior Elizabeth Marlowe. She believes she often applies jobs skills picked up in her class in her part-time job at Ace Hardware Store in Franklin.
``In English, we learned to make persuasive speeches,'' Marlowe said. ``This was designed to teach us how to present ideas to an employer in a manner that will bring the best results.
``If I had a problem (at work), I wouldn't just go tell my employer,'' she said. ``I've learned to be more persuasive. I would present him with an alternative solution to the problem.''
Marlowe started filing billing invoices in the store's office after another employee became ill recently. Since she has been in the position, she suggested making a slight change she believes simplifies the business' filing system.
``It was just a little change,'' Marlowe said. ``But I'm only 16 and this is my first real job.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
Durah Tanner, left, and Durand Boone work on a greenhouse in the
building trades class at Franklin High School.
by CNB