Lake Orion High School - Dragon Yearbook (Lake Orion, MI)

Page 186 text:

3Rs and nS his year Lake Orion has been actively assessing curriculum and revising programs via Alternative Educa- tion. One goal is to up-grade reading and math scores. Since teachers are very involved in the back-to-basics movement and serve as the backbone of programs like these, they're the focus of this section. Walking through the halls here at Lake Orion, you may encounter a classroom where the students are seated in a circle with their attention focused on a bearded man, Rodney Birleson. This slender, and tall man is a graduate of Roosevelt High School in Ypsilanti, which was a lab ex- tension of Eastern Michigan University. This high school was different from LOHS because it had open everything: open lunch, open study hall, etc. Then Rod went on to earn a teaching degree at Eastern. Why did he become a teacher? Rod emphasized, It is more important why I stayed one then why I became one. He enjoys young peo- ple because they make me feel happy. AS A HISTORY TEACHER, Rodney Birleson likes to keep his classes informed of the history being made by discussing recent events from the newspaper. I I 182 3R'sand anS 4 as vw MIKE HATCH, a teacher of Michigan History, has a large map of Michigan painted on his wall. The History teachers are Rodney Birleson, Dennis Davis, Kathleen Ferguson, and Michael Hatch. .f H' N I I gi 'ig' !. .T I .ii

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- ,.,.-,.,....-ww-s ' hall. But having been absent from third hour Government, you carefully find your way to the library to finish typing the report that is due before 2:30. As you beat the deadline by mere minutes, you head for your bus, your brain still racing a mile a minute, but producing no sense whatsoever. In a far corner of your subconscious you can see the same two words flashing over and over again: Brain Overload! Brain Overload! Brain Overloadl LISTENING TO MUSIC? Actually Mike I '5' Stark is participating in A Reading Techni- Sh ques lab that will improve his listening and S reading skills. l 1 I Z , CARD PLAYING IS A WAY TO UNWIND ONE SYMPTOM OF A BRAIN OVERLOAD IN JOUFINALISM I STUDENTS like Pam during study hall for Eric Palen and David is an overdriving sense of wanting to go to Tackett, Bonnie Taube, and Sherri Spencer Liester, although it isfrowned upon bythe ad- sleep and never wake up. go through the painstaking chore of com- ministration. pleting their Journalism I layouts for the SCEPTRE. Academics 181

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Q .----3-. KEN PHILLIPS LISTENS to the history of our country. The History teachers continued, James McGraw, William Petrak, David Schiebel, and Flobert Weller. t Q, W i 1 was-o3'fxg-f ,L e - 5, 't t wiv Q t t Wrkg , ' 'i' 1 in fi it i -' read in' Government classes and Humanities are Rod's specialties, though Humanities is not entirely concern- ed with historyg this class includes art and music. Music is one of his favorite interests, and as of late, he's become more musical. Rod plays both acoustic and electric guitar. Right now, he is working on the Alter- native Education program, which is concerned with set- ting up alternatives for students who don't succeed in regular classes. A product of a sort of alternative education plan in his own high school days, Rod likes to get involved and make other people happy. Obviously, doing so keeps him happy, too. 'view Academics 183