How was your summer, slick? “Keen.” Rumor has it that you did summer school. “Yes, my parents thought I should get ahead.” (Excerpt from the opening of the Dead Poet’s Society)
What would happen if every classroom had a teacher as dynamic as the “Mr. Keating” character played by Robin Williams in this classic movie about education? School would be a lot more fun, and the children might learn a lot more both in and out of the classroom. In fact, kids might even want to attend summer school.
This summer the Roosevelt School District offered an incredible learning experience for students. Children who registered for the month long summer school program (from June to July) had the opportunity for intensive instruction in reading and math. The kids got small group and individual level attention that is normally not possible during the regular school year. To help motivate the students a host of prizes were given away including popsicles, ice cream sundaes, free movie tickets, special field trips, and free dress day coupons (which allow students to wear something other than their school uniforms for a day).
In addition to educating the students, Roosevelt’s summer school program helped train new teachers. For the second 
consecutive year, the District was selected by Teach For America (TFA) to host a training institute. TFA is a national service organization (part of Americorps) which recruits outstanding recent college graduates and working professionals to teach our nation’s youth. As one of TFA’s six national institute sites for new teacher training, Roosevelt students benefited greatly from this collaboration. TFA Phoenix Executive Director Pearl Chang Esau commented that “we are very excited to be partnering with Roosevelt again this year. The Phoenix Institute will allow us to train more teachers to service several Teach For America regions across the country. We want our teachers to be prepared to teach, mentor, and inspire students throughout the United States.”
TFA corps members participate in a rigorous five-week summer institute, during which they develop the foundational knowledge, skills, and mindsets needed to be highly effective beginning teachers. At the institute, new teachers engage in opportunities for practice, observation, coaching, careful planning, and thoughtful reflection while working under the guidance of a team of veteran educators to provide a quality education to local summer school students.
The TFA Phoenix institute is partnering with Roosevelt Elementary School District, Agua Fria Union High School District, and Arizona State University. Amanda Burke, ASU’s Director for Education Innovation and Policy, explained that “ASU is thrilled to be hosting the Phoenix Institute on its Tempe campus. ASU fosters career development for Teach For America alumni living and working in Arizona, including access to ASU graduate school fellowships and scholarships.”
Over 3,000 students will be taught by the 650 corps members attending TFA’s Phoenix Summer Institute. Roosevelt students will know their math facts better, and be able to read with increased fluency and comprehension thanks to this new teacher training partnership. Fortunately, Roosevelt has many highly qualified faculty who will serve as advisors and coaches guiding the new teachers in their classrooms. Along with ASU, TFA, and their Agua Fria collaborators, the Roosevelt teachers are focusing the curriculum around the highest academic areas of need for each grade level of students. In this way, everybody wins—students, teachers, and the wider community.
So even though “it is summertime and the living is easy,” the Roosevelt School District is encouraging its students to “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may . . ., Carpe Diem . . ., and Seize the Day!” (as Mr. Keating from the Dead Poet’s Society would say)
South Mountain Village residents will soon have a new venue to find great bargains on gently used merchandise on July 1. The Arizona Humane Society will open its second thrift store at 6520 South Central Avenue (Central and Saint Anne) that day. Shoppers will find a variety items from clothing to electronic goods to even pet supplies.
The AGTC is a new car club that was formed from the Remember When Cruise Association. We are actively looking for new members. We try to schedule at least one event a month. There is no make, model or year requirements, we just want to have fun. We meet on the second Monday of each month at Mel Martin’s Museum. Go to our web site to sign up it is “
The April, 2009 issue of SMV featured a cover photo and article on Bob and Theresa Berglund’s “Grandma’s Farm”; and the story prompted more reader responses than we’ve seen in quite a while.
8th and will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday each week thru the summer. Cherry tomatoes, peppers and zucchini squash are already being picked while a sweet corn, yellow squash, cucumbers, okra, cantaloupe, watermelon, tomatoes and sweet corn are maturing rapidly. Plantings are staggered to assure fresh produce each day. Now for the bad news: to get the best selection for farm fresh produce you need to show up early.
situations where we wished we had paid attention in class and had become proficient in grammar and sentence construction. That situation might be as serious as being considered for a job where the interviewer will select the person they feel is the most intelligent. Your superior verbal skill could get you the position or a promotion or in a less serious situation, you could find yourself trying to impress a young ladies family. They probably want the best for her. The certainly don’t want her going out with someone who sounds like a failure.
Until Tacy Pastor can find more hours in the day than there are animals to save, the 11-year Arizona Humane Society employee just won’t slow down.
To be a sister to every Girl Scout
complete. The City already began construction of the first phase of the project, and the remainder of the project was already granted environmental clearance. In fact, Secretary Ray LaHood was in Phoenix recently to participate in our ground-breaking ceremony. With funds from ARRA, we could put more than 5,000 people to work and extend the line to the next two terminals seven years ahead of schedule, completing train service to all terminals by 2013.
University, Teach For America, Campfire USA, City of Phoenix, Pearson’s Publishing, John’s Hopkins Center for Data Driven Education Reform, and Ear Candy are just a few. These partners ensure that Roosevelt students have the best programs, resources, and technology available. Every classroom will eventually have an interactive white board thanks to their help and the donations of many other businesses and individuals (not to mention generous development grants). These partners also offered community leadership with a $60 million bond. That money is now funding a new west side campus, in addition to Bernard Black, as well as a full remodel/renovation of the Julian, Barr, and Amy Houston facilities.
By George Young
