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Bobbi Lucas , First grade teacher
Terese Rand-Bridges, Second-Third grade teacher
David Wilson, Fourth-Fifth grade teacher
Zia is the proud home of classrooms in which both
Spanish and English are used equally throughout all facets of classroom
instruction. The model is known as "dual language immersion." About half of the children in the dual language immersion classrooms come from Spanish-speaking homes and the other half come from
English-speaking homes. The native
speakers serve as language models for their counterparts so that
everyone in the class is learning a second language in a meaningful and
relevant context. Instruction and learning in any given language arts,
science, social studies, math, music or art activity takes place in one
or both languages depending on the composition of the activity group or
the target language for the activity as determined by the teachers.
Numerous studies in recent years have determined unequivocally that this
model--dual language immersion--is by far the best model for learning a
foreign language fluently, especially in the elementary school. Zia's
dual language immersion classrooms are one element of Zia's school-wide
bilingual curriculum.
Caroline Rounds, Teacher
Carla Vigil, Teacher
Rose Garcia,
Educational Assistant
Heather Ward, Educational Assistant
German Benitez, Educational Assistant
Zia Elementary is the
proud home of the only elementary school program for the visually impaired in the
Albuquerque Public Schools District. Students in grades K-5 who have any
of a spectrum of visual impairments are transported to Zia each day
where they are instructed in all academic areas with special emphasis on
reading and writing Braille. Each student in the program also receives
one-on-one instruction in mobility and cane use and receives classes in
adaptive PE and speech and language therapy. Although the students are
based in the V.I. homeroom, the majority of them spend most of the day
in regular education classrooms around the school where they
participate fully in all classroom activities. Zia has long been a
school that is both enriching to as well as enriched by the students in the Visually Impaired Program. We are proud to have the
program as an integral part of our school.
Beth Hinds-Brown,Teacher
Susanna May, Teacher
Nancy Hill, K-5 Resource Teacher
Helena Rood, Educational Assistant
The pre-school staff
at Zia Elementary includes a teacher, a speech and language pathologist,
an occupational therapist, a physical therapist and educational
assistants. This staff is trained to deal with a wide variety of three
and four-year-old children to meet all their needs in early
intervention. It gives these children a strong base for continued
academic success in kindergarten. It is a classroom full of little
bodies that seems never to stop moving!
Kim Berry, D Level Teacher
Bill Davis, D Level Kindergarten
Teacher
Melanie Costanzo, D Level Teacher
Kathy Lopez, K-5
Resource Teacher
Terry Haring-Chandler, Teacher of the Gifted
Helen Horn, Teacher of the Gifted
Mary Ann White, D Level
Intermediate Teacher
Erica Apodaca, Educational Assistant
Merci Chavez, Educational Assistant
Marly Cordova, Educational Assistant
April Gillen, Educational Assistant
Mary Hardy, Educational Assistant
Elizabeth Keller, Educational Assistant
Shirley Kellner, Educational Assistant
Helen Rood, Educational Assistant
Terese Rand-Bridges, Teacher, 2nd-3rd grades (bilingual)
Cary Robinson,
Teacher, 4th-5th grades
David Wilson,
Teacher, 4th-5th grades (bilingual)
Zia has long been a
participant in a national movement toward the integration of grade
levels in the classroom. This movement is based on solid and
indisputable research which has shown that children learn best in
classrooms that are not segregated by age but integrated into two or
three consecutive grade levels.
It is no secret that there is almost always an enormous social and
academic ability range even in "straight" grade level classrooms. That
range is only slightly increased by combining grade levels. As grade
levels are recognized for what they really are--segregation by
chronological age--more classrooms around the country and at Zia are
becoming grade-integrated. In the "real world" we are
generationally-integrated almost everywhere we go. One must wonder why
we are still not so in the classroom where teachers are ostensibly
teaching students how to live in the "real world."
In a multi-age
classroom--say a 3rd/4th/5th combination--a third grade with accelerated
skills in one area will automatically be challenged by the higher-level
activities available to his older peers. Likewise, a 5th grade student
who is not up to "grade level" in a particular area can operate on a
more appropriate level, without being stigmatized, until he or she has
"caught up" or is otherwise ready for grade level instruction. What's
more, a 3rd grader who is in a position to teach something to a 4th or
5th grader is immediately filled with a sense of confidence and pride
that he or she could never receive from a teacher. Older students, for
their part, are almost constantly in situations where they are teaching
concepts and skills to younger children, thus giving them an
opportunity to use facets of their brains and intellect that normally
wouldn't be stimulated by the mere ingestion of information. As the
saying goes, "If you know it, you can show it." A teacher once said,
"It is ignorant and presumptuous of us [adults] to assume that there is
nothing a 3rd grader can't teach a 5th grader."
Furthermore, teachers and other education experts have noticed that in
multi-age classrooms younger students learn appropriate social and
academic skills much faster from his or her older peers than they would
in a class of only 3rd graders. Likewise, older students tend not to
grow up socially "beyond their years" and are much more likely to engage
in age-appropriate play than if they were in a class of uniform
age.
Still another advantage multi-age classrooms is that they give teachers
two or more years with each student in order to follow their progress
over more than just nine months and therefore offer them longer-term and
higher-quality instruction through greater interpersonal knowledge and
expertise. These classrooms also help make a much smoother transition
between school years as one-third to one-half of the students in the
class return to the same class in the fall. The teacher already knows
the returning students very well and can therefore focus more attention
on the new students during the critical first month of school.
Multi-age classrooms also give students in the delicate, formative
years of elementary school the opportunity of being in a classroom for
more than one year, a practice that has show to greatly enhance
academic and social growth.
Finally, because of the wide ability range in most multi-age
classrooms, teachers must design an individualized curriculum so that
each can work on his or her own level and at his or her appropriate
pace. Since it would be absurd and counter-productive to expect all
students in a 3rd-4th-5th to be on the same level and perform all the
same activities to the same degree of proficiency, an individualized
curriculum is imperative in multi-age classrooms. The individualized
curriculum has shown very positive results for students year after year
since it reduces humiliation, fosters confidence, diminshes negative
academic competition, and is very consistent with the most sound child
development and learning theories.
Lynette Ben-Back, Occupational Therapist
Lynne Bombach, Occupational Therapist
Cheryl Senitz
Zia Elementary also
has three occupational therapists who provide services to children with
fine and gross motor difficulties. The OT room is very well-equipped and
is considered to be a fun place by the students who use it. The
activities are designed to strengthen overall motor skills as well as
coordination, strength and sense of balance.