THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 16, 1996 TAG: 9605140111
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Education
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
AT THE START of the school year, Fairlawn Elementary art teacher Sherry Koolman faced a challenge: To develop a project that would make learning real for her students, involve the community and connect subjects across the curriculum.
Her solution: a student-run art gallery. Late last month, students in Gloria Johnson's fourth-grade class opened the gallery to rave reviews from parents.
``He's never done anything like this before,'' parent Susan Prewitt said of her son Ryan. ``It's exciting.''
For Koolman and other educators, the project's success was a key moment in the early life of PRIME, an urban school reform initiative that promises to transform classroom instruction at Fairlawn and five other city schools by teaching students better and in a shorter amount of time.
After a summer of training on PRIME's principles, Koolman and other teachers at Fairlawn began applying what they had learned last fall.
The ultimate goal of PRIME is to compress a student's public school career into 10 years, rather than the 12 years most students need to graduate. Students could take college-level courses or receive technical and vocational training during the two years they normally would be in 11th and 12th grades.
``The idea is if you condense the program and get all areas of learning into one activity, you can move ahead more quickly,'' Koolman said. ``The big emphasis is to integrate all areas of learning. I'm not just coming in and having art for art's sake.''
Koolman said teachers link such diverse subjects as math and English rather than teach them in isolation, as is typically done. PRIME also encourages hands-on projects that applies classroom lessons to the real world.
To pull off the gallery, which Johnson's class called ``Tiger Masterpieces,'' the students worked in four groups: sales, production, advertising and accounting.
Essentilly, Koolman said, the students learned how to run and operate a business.
They honed their communication and ``people'' skills, writing letters and making phone calls to gain community support and to find buyers for the art. Colonial Chevrolet, one of the school's partners in education, donated $360 for the students to buy mats and frames.
The class formed a partnership with senior citizens at an adjacent city recreation center, and featured some of the seniors' art in the gallery.
They filled out job applications, went through job interviews and ``punched'' a time clock while working on the project. They had to use their math skills to calculate expenses and what they'd have to earn to make a profit. They also needed math to measure and cut picture mats and to frame the pictures.
To advertise their product, they created posters and a sales jingle to promote the gallery.
``We learned math, science and social studies, all put together in art,'' said one of the fourth-graders, Tonette Harris, 9. ``We had to learn math because we had to measure in inches and centimeters to frame the pictures.''
Student Felicia Bailey said she was having a hard time in math, ``but now it's easier because in the accounting department I learned to multiply and add much better.''
Parents who attended the gallery's recent grand opening said they were impressed. ``I'm for it,'' said parent Carol Rayner. ``If they can learn on this level, they can take it to a higher level when they get older. Anything to get kids involved and keep their minds busy in this positive aspect I think is wonderful.''
Also attending the gallery opening was Old Dominion University education professor Dwight W. Allen, the architect of PRIME. Allen said PRIME - for Public School Restructuring for Innovative Mainstream Education - is built around research that shows children learn better when subjects are made relevant.
``Projects like this become the focus of the academic subjects, and kids get into it and that makes learning pleasant,'' Allen said.
Fairlawn Principal Louis C. Page said an important element of PRIME is to identify early on those students having academic problems and to give them one-on-one attention. Page called the approach ``premediation.'' It differs from remediation, the most common way of dealing with failing students, because it's designed to reach kids before they fall too far behind - important if the goal is to condense the curriculum.
``We think that's a much more sensible approach rather than waiting and have to catch them up,'' Page said.
To give teachers more time for planning and working individually with students, Fairlawn and other PRIME schools rely on teaching interns from Old Dominion and Norfolk State University. Fairlawn has three of the interns, who are studying education and plan to become teachers.
Students at Fairlawn and the other PRIME schools will go to Lake Taylor High, the only high school involved. The other schools involved are Lake Taylor and Azalea Gardens middle and St. Helena and Little Creek elementary schools. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GARY C. KNAPP
Fairlawn Elementary School's Sherry Koolman has been a key teacher
in the success of PRIME, an urban school reform initiative.
by CNB