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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1991)
Ywme Francis* a senior elementary education major, student teaches 1 st graders at College Hills Elementary school. SONDRAN. ROBBINS Student teachers train for future H ave you ever thought about how Texas A&M University is preparing the students that may teach your kids someday? It is an important idea to consider, especialiy since our children will be “the leaders of tomorrow." “Teaching and education apply to everyone. I want to teach my students to be a good part of society, leaders, people who excel,” says Margaret Heffner, an elementary education ma jor from Corpus Christi currently stu dent-teaching second grade at Na varro Elementary School in Bryan. She says A&M is doing the best job possible “I think they have a good education program overall, I really do,” Heffner said. The student teaching program is a 12-credit-hour course taken pass or fail. A coordinating teacher and a su pervisor evaluate and work closely with each student teacher. Susan Kelley, Class of 77 and Heffner’s coordinating teacher, says, "A&M has very good student teach ers. They are innovative and always are looking ahead." Dr. Timothy R. Blair, coordinator of field experience, says, “I think we have one of the best programs in the state and one of the most cooperative relationships with the schools.” Opportunities to teach through A&M include three urban areas and various local and rural areas. “Administrators from all over say our students are the best they’ve had,” Blair said. He says this is because the pro gram is demanding and not an auto matic pass to teaching. "Contrary to popular belief, student teaching here is tough. That is be cause teaching is tough today,” he said. Heffner feels the same way and gave some advice to people wanting to get into education. "Make sure that you know it is going to be extremely hard work,” she says. The job is time-consuming, requir ing an abundant amount of planning and organization, Heffner said. Then she stressed planning again. “Planning is fie key to teaching, tf you can have ail of your materials ahead of time and plan, then you will be organized,”' she said. She is thankful 1 for the opportunity to find out what the classroom situation will be like and says the evaluations are important. They usually tell me the good and bad things I am doing and suggest improvements or give encourage ment,” Heffner says. Reid experience prepares students for the real thing, Blair says. Teachers aren’t bom, they are made. Knowing your content is not enough; you need knowledge of how to teach,” Blair says. He says no recipe exists for a sure way of teaching, so A&M implements current research! on teaching effec tiveness, and the student teachers are evaluated on that basis. “Student teachers are given a kit of written feedback.. One quality of our program is that students know they will have people tell them what is right and what can be changed,” Blair said. The benefits of teaching are worth all of the hard work, Heffner says. “I love my kids,” Heffner says. “They are well-behaved and love to learn and read. My cooperating tea cher is wonderful and we get along great. “The rewards, as far as helping the kids and seeing them grow, far outw eigh anything else,” she says. It is easy to see the joy of teaching in Heffner’s expressions and her co operating teacher has only positive re marks to make. “I have been really impressed with Margaret,” Kelley said. “She brings in extras and keeps the children up to ddte on what’s going on around the world.” Heffner wants to teach in inner-city Dallas eventually. "I think there is a real need there. I think God has really blessed me and I want to give some of that back,” Heffner said. page 10 February 7,1991 AnNam serves up musical variety with Coffeehouse A mix of acoustic music, humor, and relaxed performances by local tal ent was on the menu at AnNam Tea House Friday. AnNam held the sec ond of its weekly Coffeehouse shows; this one began around 8 p.m. and lasted well past 1 in the morning. To open the show, Don Hancock was joined by Dream Horse’s Christy Claxton for “Blowm’ in the Wind.” Han cock continued with a mix of covers and some of his own tunes, plus a few By Rob Newberry words about political and world events, before yetlding the stage to Dream Horse. Dream Horse ran through a set of their regulars — songs from their re lease Primitive Dreams, some other originals and baste acoustic folk-rock covers. Stacy Leider, the other half of Dream Horse, introduced her “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” explaining that the band hoped people of other faiths would share some of the ideas in the song. And that was how most of the eve ning was scheduled. Hancock would play a short set and converse with the crowd, then Dream Horse took the stage for a longer set of their material. Later in the evening, Hancock joined Claxton and local musician Todd Mar tin on violin for a few songs. The treats were a few impromptu performances by local talent. Carrie Decker took the mike for some origi nal folk music. Later, Chris Carroll played some acoustic country-rock songs, plus the funny "Copenhagen,” that had the audience laughing all the way through. According to AnNam’s proprietor T.C. Nguyen, the Coffeehouse shows are living up to expectations. “The open mike lets us be open to all differ- See An Nam/Page 12 Band With No Sleep wakes up fans at Kay’s By Rob Newberry Bryan-College Station’s own Band With No Steep rocked audiences at Kay’s Cabaret on Saturday night. With a fair balance between originals and cover tunes, these guys entertained the audience by playing old favorites, and maintained originality with some strong numbers of their own. The Band With No Sleep’s sound draws on the standard rock four-piece setup, with one exception — with Scott Eddy and Don Overby both playing lead and rhythm, they might as well just flip a coin to see who is going to show off with some interesting solo work. The band rounds out its rhythm section with Mark Pollard on bass and backing vocals and Dave Goff on drums. Overby and Eddy are regulars at Kay's. Accord ing to Eddy, the two of them play there on Thursday nights without the band once or twice a month. “We really just like to have a good time on those nights,” Eddy said. “We’ll play Johnny Cash songs with words from The Who.” more than average with standard tunes; they throw So that explains the crowd’s reaction at Kay’s — in a little more jamming and always make room for they already know about these guys. Eddy and two solos — one for Eddy and one for Overby. Overby warmed up their guitars before the show to Pollard took the microphone for ZZ Top’s “She fans in the balcony yelling, “Scott Eddy Rules!” But Loves My Automobile,” a favorite with the crowd at the fact that the band didn’t have to prove anything Kay’s. But they swept back into some of their own to the crowd didn't slow them down; they still put on stuff with the bluesy "Johnny” and “Holding Back," a great show. as well as “Down By the River. ” They opened their set with “She’s Like the Wind” The Band With No Sleep has recorded an eight- — Overby announced after it was over that it was track cassette scheduled for release Feb. 28 at Tip- just a sound check, but the song came off well any- py’s. They’ve also signed up to participate in Aus- way. Eddy and Overby both contribute a lot to the tin’s South By Southwest Music Conference, but guitar work on the tracks; in most of the tunes, each Eddy says they haven’t been confirmed yet. of them will do a solo, trying to outdo each other For some good rock jamming to classic rock within the rules of a clean blues-rock style. that’s more than just a drunken sing-along, check The band also threw in covers like CCR’s “Susie out the Band With No Sleep — you’ll also get a taste Q” and the Stones’ “Under My Thumb.” Classic of some decent original tunes with lots of blues-rock songs like these are easy material for a band, but the influences. And if clean guitar work is what you like, Band With No Sleep manages to pull off something this band is a must-see. Life Style magazine pages