“Lessons go 'beyond the textbook'” |
| Lessons go 'beyond the textbook' Posted: 17 Sep 2010 03:10 AM PDT WESTAMPTON — On a warm September morning, Burlington County Institute of Technology teacher Jeanne DelColle hadn't lost the attention of one student in her honors world history class. Passing around pottery shards, bits of flint and other artifacts she picked up on various excursions and archaeological digs, the world traveler asked class members to figure out how ancient peoples used the props. "You are discovering history as primary scientists. You are hypothesizing about what people used long, long ago," she said. Picking up a cocoon from her trip to China and Mongolia this past summer, she showed how silk fibers are cultivated. "These are primary sources that show the way people were thinking and feeling at the time," DelColle, 39, explained. It was part of a lesson on why history books and other secondary sources may give a balanced view but not necessarily a reliable one. DelColle's approach to history -- drawing on music, art and other cultural expressions of a society and not always bothering with a textbook -- has made her class memorable for students and brought her to the attention of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. This month, it named the Marlton resident its 2010 Teacher of the Year. The council will honor her at its October celebration at the Montclair Art Museum. Its executive director, Jane Rutkoff, singled out DelColle's "remarkable ability in connecting history and culture with the worlds of her students." DelColle's award is testament to the fact that the humanities offer important lessons for all students, whether they attend a regular public school or a vocational one, a prep school or a parochial school. "Every person has a gift to offer and strength in different areas of intelligence. Whether we are a teacher or student, and we never cease to be both, we all have something to learn from each other," DelColle said. "Because we're a vocational school, most of our students are working with their hands at some point of the day. Education needs to be hands on, and these kids need to know that what they do matters." (2 of 4) DeLois Howard, 16, a senior cosmetology student from Willingboro, is a product of DelColle's world history course. "I actually learned there. In other classes, it was just memorizing," Howard said. DelColle's techniques include a color-coding system for students to categorize things socially, economically and politically. She begins every class by posing a philosophical question that is discussed for 10 minutes -- "Is one human life more valuable than another? Why or why not?" was a recent one -- and often has students move into four corners of the room on an issue and vote for or against it by stomping their feet. Her former world history students can recite the 12 major Chinese dynasties because they learned them to the tune of "Frere Jacques." For a midterm exam, they have created wiki pages on nuclear proliferation. Samantha Jackson, 17, a senior electronics student from Lumberton, said she has learned about detailed note-taking and organization from DelColle. "She really gets all her students involved and is doing it with a passion. She takes us personally," Jackson said. Said DelColle, "My teaching goes way beyond the textbook. History is about the people who lived it. I make it relevant to my students because if it's relevant, it becomes important to them. "I make my students think, come up with a viewpoint, take a stand. Here, they feel safe enough to speak their minds." Shawn Carmega, 17, a senior culinary arts student from Willingboro who took world history with DelColle, said he still knows everything she taught him. "She can adapt to your individual learning curve. I feel like I lived through those times -- I feel like I was Napoleon -- because I could relate on the basis of my own characteristics," Carmega said. Debates are commonplace in DelColle's classes, where she prepares students for life as well as for further study. "In one exercise, I have students design their own country, negotiating a list of values they think are most important. They get into heated debates," she said. (3 of 4) "The object is to create a community that will work for all of them. They learn that not everybody thinks like they do. Sometimes you have to agree to disagree and walk away." DelColle didn't start out thinking she'd become a teacher. Fascinated by different governments and systems of law, she earned a bachelor's degree in political science after graduating from Willingboro's John F. Kennedy High School. While spending her junior year abroad at Homerton College, a Cambridge University school that specializes in teacher training, the light bulb flashed on. "I knew I was good at working with people and teaching seemed like the next logical step. Now, I have a captive audience for all my information," DelColle said. After graduating from Stockton College, she returned to England to earn a diploma in politics and international studies from the University of Warwick in Coventry -- and to take side trips such as the one that got her a piece of the Berlin Wall. Back in South Jersey, she returned to Stockton to earn a second bachelor's degree, this one with a teaching certification in social studies. She taught at Willingboro High School before arriving at BCIT's Westampton campus in 2003. "She's dynamic in the classroom. Her charisma and her love for teaching and history is certainly apparent," BCIT Principal Joseph Venuto said. "Jeanne is always in the forefront with technology, stays current in her field and is able to make it real for her students," he said. DelColle has earned fellowships to participate in a Bahamian reef survey and a Utah Canyon rock art expedition for the Earthwatch Institute, studied in New Mexico, supervised an archaeological dig in Amman, Jordan, and is a recipient of the Ulysses S. Grant American History Fellowship. Her latest trip combined two weeks of travel in China and two weeks of working on Mongolian nature reserves, living in a traditional structure called a yurt, on a Denver Zoo-sponsored expedition. She made a video of her experiences, which she has shared with her students. (4 of 4) "I try to make my trips vacations with a purpose -- archaeological or environmental," she said. They have given her students the desire to travel and extend their boundaries, as well. Many of DelColle's students go on to college and say she helped inspire them to do so. "Ms. DelColle always fills things with purpose. I want to interact with people and let them see the purpose in things," said Tiana McMillan, 18, a senior advertising art and design student from Willingboro. Said Willingboro resident Jannira Larios, 18, a senior cosmetology student, "She grew the passion for history in me. I will always remember the way she said to follow your dreams and don't ever stop." Besides teaching world and United States history, DelColle has served as a class adviser and coached cheerleading and girls' soccer at BCIT. She advises its National Honor Society chapter. DelColle earned her master's degree in liberal studies at Rutgers-Camden this year, presenting a thesis on the ethics of archaeology. Education, she argued, is the way to combat looting and settle conflicts over where artifacts should reside. She plans to begin doctoral work in education, culture and society at Rutgers-New Brunswick, but has no desire to move out of the classroom and into administration. "I like my students. I'm going to keep them," DelColle said. "When they make connections and realize history doesn't happen in a vacuum, breaking down stereotypes and myths, I've done my job." Reach Barbara S. Rothschild at (856) 486-2416 or barothschild@camden.gannett.com This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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