New Knoxville High School - Memoir Yearbook (New Knoxville, OH)

First year brings AGONY £ ECSTASY School — a learning experience. This statement stands true for teach- ers as well as students. Many students think that going to school is difficult and that they are constantly being taught something. But what about teachers? What do they think of school — more exactly, their first year of teaching? Mrs. Karen Lehmkuhl, our only first-year teacher, calls her first year " very challenging and very busy. " Mrs. Lehmkuhl (pictured below) teaches home economics for half a day. A teacher ' s first year isn ' t always fun and games, however. Many teach- ers look back on their first year and recall the horror of it. " I didn ' t know anything. I had 165 students and col- lected everything they did. There were stacks of paper 1 threw in the garbage and never graded, " said Mrs. Janean Oberlander of her first year of teaching in Cincinnati. Science teach- er, Mr. Steve Trout, thought his first year to be " a waste. " " 1 was ready to quit at the end of it, " commented Mrs Thervl Da«i ; New Knoxville Board of Education: Gary Schrolucke. Tom Fledderjohann, Bruce Eschmeyer, Ted L am- mers, Eugene Opperman Jr.. Bruce Hoge. The first year of teaching may be hard and at times discouraging, but it is still satisfying and rewarding in many ways. " My first year was a dream come true. The excitement of doing things I had been taught in col- lege was a natural high, " was Mrs. Dana Brown ' s positive comment about her first year of teaching. — Glen Bechara Incentive programs — A first in elementary " The following students were caught being good ... " This familiar phrase preceded all other announcements on Monday mornings and may have even become mundane to the high school students. But to the stu- dents in grades 1-6, these words meant something special. Stickers, bookmarks, or maybe even a meal at a local restaurant were some of the awards given to students who were caught being good. Initiated in October, the Caught Being Good program was designed to reward students for being polite, kind, and giving an extra hand to teach- ers and other students. " The program puts a strong emphasis on positive reinforcement, " stated Principal Annett Kuck. " The kids were given disci- pline slips when they caused trouble, but there was nothing to reward them for being good. We needed a program that would balance the scales. " Students are issued tickets when they are caught being good. On Fri- days they take their tickets into the principal ' s office, and Mrs. Kuck then exchanges the tickets for either a sticker or a bookmark. " The reason we have the kids come to my office is so they can see the principal on a pos- itive note. When someone has to come to the principal ' s office, he usually thinks he has done something wrong. I want to let the kids know that this is not true. " The program has created an incentive for students. " The classes want to be good, " said Mrs. Kuck. It has proven effective as the percent- age of students without any discipline slips has increased. Creating incentives academically, the Star Award Program has helped motivate kids to get good grades. Although there has been no drastic in- crease from last year, Kuck feels the program is effective. " I think the program pushes the students to work harder. " Incentive programs like these are designed to promote a positive atti- tude towards school. The keys to success in high school lie in having posi- tive experiences in the elementary grades, and programs such as Caught Being Good and the Star Awards help to provide those positive experi- ences. — Laurie Merges Staff 19