Classical High School - Blue and White Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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“Teaching At Its Best’ Miss Linda Tammi an English and psychology teacher, feels that a teacher should be able to enjoy the student-teacher relationship to bring out the most in a learning situation. She explains this by saying, ‘For me, teaching at its best has always meant sharing ... sharing an enthusiasm for a field of study.” In order for a teacher to teach a subject well, she must enjoy it thoroughly and must be able to communicate both a understanding and a respect for the field to her student. Miss Tammi expresses her feelings for English saying, “I like teaching English because I enjoy sharing a love of reading and of learning to write.” Psycho logy is a course which studies human behavior and some of its many mysteries. Miss Tammi expresses her interest in the course by saying, “Teaching psychology this year has been really exciting. It has given me a chance to share a curiosity about human Miss Tammi checks over Jeff Jordan’s yearbook copy. behavior, a topic which always engages me.” Mr. Paul Robbins - Music Mrs. Linda Rozzi - Math Mr. David Macomber - Language % Mr. James O’Donnell-Science Mrs. Lyons adjusts a pressure cooker. Mr. Raymond Lussier - Language FACULTY [f@ 25

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Mrs. Smith takes a routine call Miss Carolina Accorsi - Language Mr. Arthur Barnes - English The Psychology Boom Over the past four year, the psychology course at Classical has had a 300% increase in enrolled students. The reason for the growth, as explained by psychology teacher Mrs. Iris Danforth, is due mainly to the fact that she and Mr. Clark Henderson, a psychology teacher, decided in‘1975 to rewrite the psychology curriculum and expand the course. The new curriculum limited the straight lectures and began using totally new techniques making'the course more interesting and challenging. The students were encouraged to become more involved so that they would become active contributors to the course and at the same time would be learning. Although Mrs. Danforth found that she had no discipline problems with her students, she did find one minor negative aspect in her larger classes, which was that she was not able to work with students individually as sucessfully as she could have in smaller classes. Some of the psychology topics covered in the course are learning theory, theories of personality, drug and alcohol abuse, and psychological testing. The psychology classes also took field trips to Monson State Hospital and Hampden County House of Correction. A guest speaker from the State Welfare Department discus sed child abuse with the class, and clinical 24 |(2] FACULTY Mr. Gerald Canter - Counsler Miss Sandra Camp - Art Miss Isabelle Brown w - Librarian ; ie ha Serene 2s 7 aR REE Le (ult BLFOCSLS psychologist Dr. Jack Patten discussed the relationship of the mind and the body, and psychogenic illnesses. All of these additions to usual classroom activities contributed to the growing popularity of the course.

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Popular Potting The number of students enrolling in the senior painting course, (Art 4) and the pottery course (Art 3), has been steadily increasing. The swelling numbers have been partly due to favorable publicity from students who took the courses last year. They expressed their enthusiasm for the course to friends who evidently decided to try the courses for themselves. Ms. Camp teaches the senior painting course which includes basic drawing, water color techniques, acrylics, oil painting, stretching canvases, and painting on different surfaces. She feels that the course is an introductory class for those who wish to major in art in college. Ms. Camp also teaches the pottery class for seniors and juniors. This course teaches hand building and wheel techniques using clay to make objects. It also includes glazing and general designing of an object. However, there has been one frustrating aspect to Ms. Camp’s job. There has always been a long waiting period for art supplies which Ms. Camp has to order well in advance of courses, even though she might not know the number of students that she may have in the art classes. Therefore, she has had to estimate the Mrs. Julia Bale-Math Mr. Francis Baron-Biology Mr. Jerome Sha y in deep thought. 26 |e] FACULTY Maria Ashettino isn’t making clay pancakes. quantity of supplies that she will be needing, which has sometimes meant a shortage of supplies. Besides this minor problem, Ms. Camp enjoys teaching both classes. Miss Marilyn Freedman-Math Miss Velma Jordan-Home Economics