Social Behavior Lesson Learned In Broadcasting Class

Riverside Middle School special education teacher Tom Powers planned for this chaos like a weatherman in monsoon season.

The students in his eighth-grade news broadcasting class bounce around among three rooms and 30 ideas, their Friday deadline looming like the prom.

An assistant teacher scoots cameraman T.J. Shoemaker out the door to get a live shot of a spontaneous birthday celebration for the principal. Shoemaker grabs a camera and drags an extension cord down the hall like he is leading a worm on a leash.

In the next room, Jamie Rizzuto and Lacey Gallinger giggle through their 14th attempt at a news broadcast as Garret McQuesten and David Padgham goof behind the camera. “They’re actually being good today,” said Rizzuto, 14, rolling her eyes.

You wouldn’t know it at times, but this class is an experiment in behavior modeling.

Powers designed the class to teach learning disabled kids who have behavior problems correct social behavior. The teachers are the nine reporters and anchors - non-special education students hand-picked for the assignment. Four special education students are class cameramen.

Having the students mix under the pressures of deadline journalism puts the lessons in the real world, Powers says. He thinks lessons learned in a more controlled setting are more easily forgotten.

“A class which has a high chaos factor, a high stimulus factor, provides a setting for us to lose control, but it also is a setting for them to learn control,” said Powers.

“We see the best behavior and the worst behavior of everything. We want to point out the best and help them work on the worst.”

Most of the special education students are diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder. Their wandering minds can contribute to the chaos. One student sat beneath a tripod as he was filming.

Powers says tight discipline minimizes serious disruptions. But outside the class, some of the special education students have had problems; of the nine enrolled in his class in September, five have been expelled from school.

“That’s the most I’ve ever seen,” he said, dejected.

The remaining students think the class, with its goofy sense of fun and intricate video and sound editing equipment, is “cool.”

“No homework,” said Padgham, wearing a blond shoulder-length hair cut and a flannel shirt.

“We learn to be technical wizards,” said B.J. Ostby.

The class produces the bi-monthly RMS News broadcast, which is shown schoolwide. The next installment, due Friday, has a clip of the Care Bears cartoon as part of its “caring” theme.

Scholars get recognition

Three years ago, a Spokane attorney named Lewis Rukivena decided high school scholars deserved the same recognition as jocks, at least once a year. He created the Spokane Scholars Foundation, which awards the top local high school senior in each of six categories with a $3,000 grant.

Although the winner in each category wins cash, the nominees just get their names in the paper. Here is a list of the North Side nominees, by category.

Fine arts - Jennifer Burdette, Deer Park; Kashana Cox, Mead; Christopher Knight, Rogers; Jeffrey McMurtery, Shadle Park; Emily Perez, North Central; and Daniel Silver, Lakeside.

Foreign language - Sarah Childs, Rogers; Joy Crosby, North Central; Minda Dentler, Mead; Kathryn Hill, Deer Park; Heather Kennedy, Riverside; and Betsy Myers, Shadle Park.

Math - Erica Blake, North Central; James Gilles, Lakeside; Joseph Hall, Mead; Stephen Snider, Riverside; Frank Schwieterman, Deer Park; Steve Smith, Rogers; and Gloria Wood, Shadle Park.

English - Jillian Anderson, North Central; April Ensminger, Deer Park; Jessica King, Riverside; Christopher Knight, Rogers; Ryan O’Connell-Elston, Shadle Park; Christine Sandman, Lakeside; and Sarah Westergren, Mead.

Science - Tyler Bauer, North Central; James Gilles, Lakeside; Amy Sawatzky, Shadle Park; Frank Schwieterman, Deer Park; Dusty Patrick, Riverside; Nicholas Stucky, Mead; and Thinh Vu, Rogers.

Social Science - Jason Borhauer, Shadle Park; Steven Joes, North Central; Jessica King, Riverside; Casey Schneider, Mead; Nicholas Som, Lakeside; and Todd Weger, Deer Park.

The awards dinner is April 24 at the convention center. Call Rukivena at 459-3200 or co-organizer John Manning at 838-8568 to buy a $20 dinner ticket.

Teacher trying for Olympics

The Midway Elementary parents group is organizing a fund-raiser dinner so teacher and world-class speed cyclist Chris Vogel can trying for the U.S. Olympic team.

Vogel, 31, has competed nationally for six years and is one of about 200 in the country with the highest cycling rating.

Proceeds from a spaghetti feed Saturday will go to Vogel, who needs about $1,100 for a week in Pennsylvania, where the speed cycling trials will be held in June.

Tickets for the dinner are $5 for adults, $3 for kids and can be purchased by calling the school at 468-3080.

Kindergarten registration

For the first time, the Mead School District is registering kindergarteners before the fall. Administrators are asking parents of kindergarteners to contact their local school before Septemeber 1.

Registration is usually held in September, but administrators are hoping an earlier deadline will result in accurate enrollments before school budgets are written in the summer.

Call the Mead office at 468-3000 for more information.

Deer Park teacher honored

It took Deer Park native Melinda Reynolds a trip around the world to get noticed. But Reynolds returned to Arcadia Elementary from a two-year teaching stint in Sudan to win the teacher of the year award from a state special education council.

Citing her ability to tailor curriculum to each student and her unusual international experience, the Washington state Council for Exceptional Children picked Reynolds from it’s 900 members.

Reynolds took a two-year sabbatical from Arcadia to teach English in Khartoum, Sudan. She returned in 1994.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: Education Notebook is a regular feature of the North Side Voice. If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a North Side school or about the achievements of North Side students, teachers or school staff, please let us know. Deadline is Monday. Write: Jonathan Martin, Education Notebook, North Side Voice, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. E-mail: jonathanm@spokesman.com. Call: 459-5484. Fax: 459-5482.