Jeannie Craft

**Jeannie Craft, Irish Elementary School -- September, 2006 Teacher-of-the-Month**
Introduction by Principal of Irish Elementary It is my pleasure to honor Jeannie Craft, a first grade teacher at Irish Elementary. In addition to being one of the finest first grade teachers I have ever worked with, Jeannie is highly involved in the Irish School Council and many partnerships with the community and faith-based groups. Rotary's International principles describe Jeannie Craft. She exemplifies what is means to be 'of service' to others. Working with parents of students in her classroom is a top priority for Jeannie. She supports parents in being their child's first teacher. In addition to conducting home visits with every student and their family at the beginning of the school year, it is not uncommon to hear her say, "I am dropping by this student's home to touch base with mom about reading at home." She believes in a personal, fact-to-face approach with parents that supports parents with dignity and respect. This advocacy for and with parents does not stop with those in her classroom. For the past several years, Jeannie has co-chaired the Irish School Council with a parent. She has been instrumental in the increase in authentic parent involvement in our school by advancing ideas about how parents can support our mission of educating every child. Jeannie works closely with several groups to support teachers, students, and families at Irish. Recently, Jeannie and other staff members have formalized a partnership with Redeemer Lutheran Church to sponsor our fall Back to School night, a clothing drive during parent conferences, and over 150 backpacks and health totes for students and families. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to publicly recognize Jeannie Craft for all that she does for our students and families. Brenda Gifford, Principal Irish Elementary August 28, 2006
Teaching Career I've taught in Poudre School District for twenty years. All my teaching positions have been at Irish Elementary with the exception of my first semester, which was at Bauder Elementary. I started out as a special education teacher for the first few years and then moved into the classroom and have taught Kindergarten, sixth and first. Community Activities I love being active in the community and volunteer my time at Salud, The PVH Foundation, Book Trust (board member) and The Houska/Houska Memorial Day Race, which raises money to support the bone marrow program at PVH. Also during the summer, I volunteer to teach the Wolf Paws Program at Poudre Valley Movile Home Park. This is in conjunction with the outreach efforts of Wingshadow/Frontier High School. Many of my students live at Poudre Valley and it's a great opportunity to impact their lives in a more casual setting. During the week-long event we introduce a character trait each day, play games to encourage community, sing songs, create art, and end the day with a meal. For the last three years, I have written grants and received the funding to provide food, art supplies, and T-shirts and books on the last day. I often see the T-shirts being worn at Irish. The children are so proud that they completed the character education program. Last year, two days a week during the month of December, my friend and I played Santa and Santa's helper at Salud. We purchased poloroid film, stuffed animals and candy canes and visited with the children while they were waiting for their appointments. We are returning this year with a promise from PVH's Healthy Kids Club to provide toothbrushes and toothpaste to put in the stockings that we purchased at the end of last holiday season. This idea was in response to a little girl responding that her Christmas wish was for a new toothbrush. I also volunteer at Redeemer Luthern Church with their Mission Board and help to complete health totes twice a year. These totes are distributed to our families at registration, home visits and conferences. Why Teaching as a Career ? I love making a difference in the life of a child. Research shows that children who can articulate their "dream" or "goal" in life (what you want to be when you grow up) are more likely to realize that dream. Some of our students are in situations where dreaming seems fruitless. I encourage them to dream and work hard to fulfill that dream. I ask parents what they can do to improve the likelihood that their child will be successful and reach their goal. Sometimes, they don't have a clue and this is the perfect educational opportunity. The other day I asked one of my very bright bilingual students what she wants to be when she grows up. Her response was "to work at MacDonald's." I told her that would be a great option while she was attending college. The seed needs to be planted at a young age. Proud Teaching Moments I'm most proud of the partnerships that I have helped to create between Irish Elementary School and organizations in the community. These partnerships have helped to provide warm winter clothes, eyeglasses, food and hygiene products for our families. I've helped to level the playing field, so to speak for our students. Also, I'm proud and excited by the prospect of serving on the Book Trust Board here in Fort Collins. A young woman, who witnessed, as a child, the inequity of life, started this foundation. She was always able to purchase books from the monthly book clubs at school but she noticed that there were always those children right in her classroom whose families struggled financially and weren't able to provide the money needed for books. So, through this program, children who are living below the poverty level qualify to participate and are able to purchase $7.00 worth of books a month. That's $63.00 a year per child. Biggest Stumbling Block in Teaching? Children living in poverty have huge obstacles to overcome. Irish has a population that has over 90% of the students living below the poverty level. Children come to school without the tools needed to be ready to learn and the teachers become the first line of defense. Eyeglasses, a nutritious breakfast, dental care are things that most of us take for granted but are often not provided to our children living in poverty. Also, TV often becomes a babysitter while parents struggle to hold down several jobs to keep their families financially afloat. Children living in poverty are more likely drop out of school and become incarcerated. They are likely to pass on their poverty to the next generation. Ideas for Elimination of Stumbling Block I know that our jails are overcrowded and we need to eliminate that problem, but I would like to see more money spent at the other end such as early childhood education and parent education. It would be more cost effective to solve the problem when a child is young than to simply "warehouse" them in jail because they have dropped out and have no dreams as aspirations. Greatest Problem in School District? "Nearly one in six kids, or 16.6 percent of all children in Fort Collins, fall below the federal poverty guidelines," as stated recently in the Coloradoan. That number has doubled in the last five years. That seems like a large percent in a city that boasts being number one in its class according to Money Magazine. Look at the demographics at Irish. We have over 90% of our students falling below the poverty line. With imbalance like that, it's a constant challenge to overcome the odds and have our students compete with their wealthier counterparts. Recommendations to Eliminate Greatest Problem In order to break generational poverty, parents need to be educated right along with their children. They need to see the importance of turning off the television and reading to or with their children. They need to see the importance of talking to their children and giving them the tools and encouragement to succeed academically. They need to set the academic bar high for their children and then be there when they falter. Parents living below the poverty level often are not well educated themselves and struggle helping their children with their homework so money needs to be available for homework help programs so our students can compete with those who have the help available at home. Enrichment activities need to be made available after-school, such as museum trips and sports opportunities. Often children living in poverty are unsupervised after school and get into trouble when they are idle. Then it's often a slippery slope to academis failure and dropout. When middle class or upper-middle class children go on summer break, their reading, writing and math scores either continue to increase or stay the same so when they return to school in the fall they are just where they need to be. When children who are living below the poverty level go on summer break, their scores fall dramatically. If they worked hard to get to grade level by the end of one school year, they find themselves below grade level entering the next grade. So, funds need to be made available for tuition free summer school. Some schools might benefit from having year-round school so long breaks without stimulation are not an issue.
Copyright © for the Rotary Club of Fort Collins, Brenda Gifford and Jeannie Craft and the Poudre R-1 School District and by Alan Ashbaugh, September 26, 2006