Students Hit Ground Running on First Day at Westwood Elementary

(KNSI) – District 742 held its first classes on Wednesday for all students.

That includes Westwood Elementary and the homeroom of first grade teacher Pamela Voigt. She says she began developing a relationship through conferences with her kids and their parents in August. It helps her set goals for her students and learn more about their strengths and weaknesses.

She says, “I ask them three questions. What was your favorite thing from last year? What was something you were really good at because everybody has something they’re great at. What was easy? And then I asked them what was something that was kind of tricky or difficult because we all have that.”

Voigt has taught from kindergarten up to fourth grade in her career. Voigt immediately mentioned technology when asked about how the job has changed since she began as an instructor. In her classroom, a screen has replaced a blackboard. Seesaw and other apps are downloaded onto a tablet available to each student for certain lessons.

Voigt has a degree in reading instruction, giving her a unique perspective on the controversy surrounding slipping test scores. She talks about the different concepts that she has seen in her 30-year career.

“The philosophy of reading swings one way and then all the way back to the other side. Everything from — at one point in history, we had whole language and they basically…you weren’t supposed to teach phonics and they got it by osmosis to the pendulum swings way to the other side, where all you teach is phonics.”

Voigt says another round of professional training will be coming up soon for letters and reading. She expects it to more closely resemble what she was taught in a three-year program in college. Voigt says reading requires a balanced approach, rather than strict adherence to one school of thought or the other.

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