THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 27, 1995 TAG: 9509260083
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
WHAT NINTH-GRADE students at Smithfield High School learn in Nancy Peters' class they will be able to use in every other course. And it could set them on the right track to succeed in life.
Peters teaches Skills for Success, a course mandated by the school system last year to help high school students improve achievement test grades and SAT scores.
All ninth-graders are required to take the course unless they have a ``B'' or better average or unless parents opt them out.
``I try to make these kids understand that they are in high school now, and everything they do here can make a difference,'' Peters says. ``I can teach them how to take a test, how to take notes, how to outline, and they can transfer that information to every other class.''
Peters is a New York native who came south because she was tired of harsh winters. ``Virginia,'' she says, smiling, ``is my piece of heaven. No snow.'' She has more than a decade of teaching experience, including some experience in administration.
Even in Smithfield, where Peters says she's been impressed with the caliber of students, she has found some resistance to doing what she believes should come naturally - thinking.
``I'll tell my students, `You don't like me when I make you think, but you've got to take responsibility for yourselves.' This is a class for those who want to help themselves.''
In class, Peters is enthusiastic, animated and talkative.
Understanding teenagers just beginning their high school years is part of her challenge in teaching this unusual course. Often, she says, students will be outspoken in class but embarrassed to speak to her, say, at the grocery store.
``It's all right. I understand. I really want to help the kids, and I believe in this program. It's not like a course you'd ever choose to take, but if it works for 10 kids, it will be great. It's all about taking high school seriously.''
Students in her class will learn all of the different types of study techniques, Peters says, and they will learn what specifically works for them.
``They will learn who they are to compare it with what they think they want to be. We'll take an interest inventory, talk about what they want to do, about careers.''
And the culmination of the class at the end of the semester will be for each student to plan the rest of his or her high school curriculum.
``Their four-year plan will go in their guidance folder, and they will look back on it each year,'' Peters says.
The course was started at Smithfield High last year, Principal Donald Alvey says, but it wasn't as successful as administrators wanted.
``Last year, we probably tried to invent it as we went along,'' Alvey says. ``We wanted to design it to acclimate students to high school, knowing full well that one size does not fit all. This summer, it was refined and strengthened.''
So far, Peters says, things seem to be going well. She's already had students come back to her to say that a tip for studying or note taking they learned in her class has worked in another.
``They are thinking. I can tell already they are thinking.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
``I try to make these kids understand that they are in high school
now, and everything they do here can make a difference,'' Nancy
Peters says.
by CNB