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Education
The potential of homeroom
School using time to bolster students' spirits
By Beth Wilson
Originally published 03:58 a.m., October 8, 2007
Updated 03:58 a.m., October 8, 2007
CORPUS CHRISTI — Next to the world maps and the overhead projector listing the characteristics of communism sits a small shelf of slippers.
Alex Heatherley's history classroom at Calallen High School becomes a homeroom for a group of juniors for about 25 minutes every morning.
"It's our homeroom," student Amy McClendon said, explaining the sock monkey slippers she just slipped on after slipping off her street shoes. "We get to be homey."
Heatherley, a 41-year-old gum-chewing, sneaker-wearing teacher with 18 years of classroom experience, helped foster the camaraderie of homeroom during the first few weeks of school with birthday parties for students.
His birthday gift to those students? A pair of slippers.
The students returned the favor, giving him a party the day after he was out sick.
"Every day (other students) see us bring food," said junior Max Power.
This homeroom has gotten a reputation throughout the school -- a good one.
"The fiestas bring us closer because they make us communicate more," said junior Jerica Quick.
Heatherley admits other teachers have taken a more academic approach to homeroom.
Down the hall from Heatherley's homeroom fiestas, Jennifer Borrer, a 38-year-old teacher with 15 years of classroom experience, is getting her homeroom of freshmen to think about helping others.
On the front wall, Borrer has projected a Web site called Kiva.org that connects lenders, in this case Borrer and her class, with entrepreneurs in developing countries. Students sit on their desks shouting out which of the people featured on the site deserve Borrer's $25.
"So protection is particularly important to you," Borrer asks the class, getting them to talk about which needs should be put first.
Another student pipes up, after waiting a while with his hand up.
"I have something to say about this," said freshman Reid Tompkins, who then suggests helping a woman who asks for a loan of $100 to help with her neighborhood day care.
"This hundred bucks will go for the whole neighborhood. It won't just be for her, for her kids," he said.
Soon, the class focuses on decorating a change jar so everyone can bring in money to help others. One wants to make the jar, and another wants to bring in the jar. They all want to help make the jar during homeroom.
Borrer said homeroom is about getting to know each other better.
"It feels nice to come into a place, relax, do homework and develop a relationship with a teacher that's not really centered on academics," she said.
Homeroom teachers know about the students' academic lives. They pass out report cards and review standardized test scores with students. Homeroom can be spent studying, and Borrer said it's not unusual for academic teachers to ask homeroom teachers to help out students on particular tasks, such as upcoming tests or assignments.
Borrer hopes the homeroom environment cleans out the cliques associated with high school.
"In homeroom, everybody is together," she said. "They're not divided. It's not just the smart kids or just the athletes."
Principal Yvonne Neth said the idea came from her teachers, who noticed students connected to each other through academics, athletics or extra-curricular activities were more likely to stay in school. For those not yet involved, homeroom was a way to reach them, keep them in school and help them be successful.
"The main emphasis is to build relationships, and we're hoping it has a domino effect," she said.
Calallen still is tweaking how long homeroom should be. It recently was shortened from 32 to 24 minutes so lunches could be longer. Neth said they'll evaluate it throughout the year.
The school previously had time for announcements and Channel 1, an educational news program produced for students, but it was tacked on the end of an academic class.
That didn't give the extra connection Heatherley said this dedicated homeroom time does.
There are no official numbers on campuses that have homerooms in the Corpus Christi area or how they are structured.
Dawn Schuenemann, associate director for instructional services at the Educational Service Center Region 2, said scheduling the day is generally a campus decision. Many campuses plan homerooms to have the least interference with academic classes, she said.
"If I'm a math teacher I want my entire 50 minutes on math, but there's information that needs to be disseminated," she said. "It's almost like what works for you at your school so you don't take out of instructional time."
At Martin Middle School in the Corpus Christi Independent School District, teachers are creating new clubs and mentoring and tutoring students outside the regular school hours to help build those connections.
Principal Delma Yzaguirre said first period, which is 70 minutes long, serves as a homeroom time, with five minutes for announcements at the start and 10 minutes at the end dedicated to math or reading instruction.
No matter which class students have, whether band, science, Spanish or art, they spend 10 minutes with a novel picked for each grade or reviewing math terminology.
Yzaguirre said social connections also are an important part of the school, and it can be difficult to fit it all in. But, she said, teachers put students' needs first and priorities fall into place.
"We don't know if there is direct correlation, but there was an increase in reading scores of students," said Yzaguirre. "So we said, 'Let's continue and get more data.' "
Contact Beth Wilson at 886-3748 or
wilsonb@caller.com
