Edsel Ford High School - Flight Yearbook (Dearborn, MI)

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Foreign Languages Foreign languages at Edsel consist of German, French and Spanish. Mrs. Jan Vandenburg teaches Ger- man, beginning with students learn- ing the alphabet. Mr. Robert Morency guides the Spanish section and puts emphasis on speaking. Mrs. Virginia Waldinger teaches French and also emphasizes speech patterns. Foreign languages are vital to a student's education. As in past years, one of the classes takes a trip to its native country. This year the German class is going to Germany, a good way for students to improve their vocabulary. Frau VanDenberg Mrs. Jan VanDenberg is one of Edsel Ford High School’s veteran teachers. She joined the staff as a music teacher, and today she teaches German. She is known to her students as Frau. Frau has as extensive background in languages. During high school she studied German and Spanish and “after school” it was Italian. After high school, she “college hopped” attending Purdue. Indiana University, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the University of Kansas. Stanford, the University of Plagenfurt in Austria. Frau received two Bachlor’s Degrees from the University of Miami, one in Music Education and the other in Fine Arts. She also has a Master’s in German language and literature. At Edsel Frau has taught English, German and all levels of the Music Humanities program; but her teaching hasn’t been limited to just Edsel. For a year she taught English in Germany. Frau related some of her experiences in Germany. “At the time schools over there were just beginning to go co-ed. I taught in a school that was still all boys. “One of my classes had 48 twelve-year- old boys, all of them full of the dickens. They used to torment me at every opportunity. I had them just before they left school, so at 12:00 they would take a mirror and flash the sunlight into my eyes. I mean I would turn to the class and I was blinded. Another time they all ran over to the windows and jumped out. “There was one boy in particular who caused trouble, Hanz. The students had been learning Oxford English and thought it was funny to correct the American teacher. I had been teaching them to tell time, when Hanz. thinking he was being very smart, said. “Do you not mean to say half past three?” I turned to him and said, ‘Hanz. don’t you see how smart you can be? You can either say ‘It is half past three or you can say three-thirty.’ This helped to bring him under control.” Frau sponsors student trips to Germany almost every other year. She has sponsored 13 trips. Another trip is scheduled for this summer. 29

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Reciting Shakespeare Mr. Neil Brown, English Humanities teacher at Edsel Ford, also teaches drama. Mr. Brown directs all of the school plays and sponsors the EF troupe of Thespians, an international dramatic honors club. Thespian activities include trips to Strat- ford-on-Avon, Canada, to see plays. Mr. Brown also sponsors and chaperons EF’s Thespian representatives at the Annual International Thespian Convention at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He said,“Ball State is an excellent learning experience for students. It is cultural as well as social and educational.’' Apart from school Mr. Brown enjoys attending plays, sporting events, traveling and dealing in antiques. English ectives THIS PAGE: TOP LEFT: Mr. Neil Brown starts reciting Shakespeare. MIDDLE RIGHT: This English class seems to be doing everything except listening to the teacher. BOTTOM: Joel Scott,12, and Loren Fisher. 11, cleverly disguise hand-hoiding. OPPOSITE PAGE: TOP LEFT: Kyung-MI Lim,12, is really listening to the Beastie Boys. TOP RIGHT: Mrs. Jan Vandenburg discovers what Lim is listening to. MIDDLE LEFT: Catherine Fox,9, listening to ghost stories, as you can tell by the fright displayed on her face. MIDDLE RIGHT: Headphones drop from the sky for the eager students awaiting to learn Espanol. BOTTOM: German students are being put to sleep with easy listening. The Edsel Ford English Department is offering many electives to its students. These classes give students a chance to experience a variety of different areas. Mr. Neil Brown teaches two classes which involve learning to act, direct and produce dramatic productions. They are Play Production and Act- ing and Directing. Miss Anne Gautreau teach- es Leadership Training. This class is comprised of class officers and representatives. Students organize school activ- ities, such as dances and pep rallies, and learn leadership qualities, including how to take charge in a given situa- tion. Miss Gautreau also teaches Film Study, whereby students learn to interpret popular and current films, and offer critiques on them. Mr. Duane Machak teaches Speech, Debate and Forensics classes. Students gain exper- ience in public speaking through these classes. Mrs. Maria Lindsay opens the door of print journalism to students who wish to take Introduction to Journalism I and II. Upon completion of these classes students may continue on to Newstaff and Yearbook production. PACE, Providing Alternate Choices in Education, is taught by Mr. A1 Harris. Mr. James Wimshurst, Mr. David Balfour, Mr. Chase Harrison, Mr. Lynn Langley and Mrs. Beverly Reiter. The purpose of PACE is to teach and help students who have difficulty in English and social studies class. 28

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Harrison Provides Skills for the Ongoing Educational Process Mr. Chase Harrison, a native of Batavia, New York, and a teacher in the Dearborn school system for over 25 years, has devised an interesting approach to education through experience and wisdom. To quote Mr. Harrison, “Education is not just something someone receives in school at one time or at one place. It is a continuing process until the very end.” Because education is an ongoing process to the State University of New York graduate, he explained why he enjoyed teaching at the junior high level by stating, “I frequently had the same students in the ninth grade that I had in the seventh grade, and I enjoyed having students a second time around. They know you and you know them better and it gives you the opportu- nity to see the growth, mental growth, and the growth in academic skills that one presented in the seventh grade. “Just as I do here at Edsel. I teach ninth graders but also sophomores and juniors, £id then I can see if they are still using some of the skills they were presented, such as outlining and research papers.” Mr. Harrison, who originally planned to be a sociologist, commented on what led him to teach in the general field of social studies, “It is part of our heritage, a history per se, and I particulary like many of the areas covered such as sociology or political science, even geography. “I thoroughly enjoy sinking my teeth into world history or U.S. history, which I am teaching right now,” stated the former New Yorker on his current curriculum. He has also taught English and social studies to children of American servicemen in Germany. This gave him the opportu- nity to travel extensively throughout Europe and broaden his views of the world. Mr. Harrison’s philosophy on teaching can be summed up by saying that after a teacher presents the skills for learning, he must stimulate the students “to wish to pursue in similar areas. That, to me, is what teaching is all about.” Social Studies The social studies program at Edsel Ford provides students with a unique opportun- ity to learn about other cultures. The six required semesters of study provide the Edsel student with a broad background in American and other cul- tures. This background helps the student to better understand the world around him. Starting in a student’s freshman or sophomore year, he will learn about world history, from ancient Mesopotamia to the present. In the junior year he will learn in depth about America, its foundation, and history to the present time. In his senior year the student will study government and economics. Another class offered as an elective by the social studies department is sociology. Instructing Edsel students on their journey through history are: Mr. David Balfour, Mr. Tom Barrett, Mr. Robert Dillingham, Mr. John Gmitter, Mr. Michael Grenfell, Mr. Allen Harris, de- partment chairman, Mr. Chase Harrison, Mr. Lynn Langley and Mr. James Wims- hurst. OPPOSITE PAGE: TOP LEFT: Tracey McEachren, 10, prepares her lunch in biology class. TOP RIGHT: Mr. Hough opens a paint can, the hard way. LOWER RIGHT: Junior Kevin Henninger stares at his experiment. LOWER LEFT: Jim Lawerence, 11, smiles, showing how much he loves chemistry. THIS PAGE: TOP LEFT: Mr. Harrison flashes a devilish grin. TOP RIGHT: Junior Tracey Treiber poses for a modern Rodan. CENTER: Sue Zelenski, 11, works intently on a Civil War test. 30