Wildfires consume dozens of AFT members' homes

In October, Santa Ana winds spurred wildfires from San Diego County down to the Mexican border. They displaced 1 million people and consumed 400,000 acres and more than 2,000 homes, dozens of them belonging to California Federation of Teachers/AFT members.

Shannon Lienhart, president of the Palomar Faculty Federation (PFF), reports that nine Palomar members have lost their homes, and Marc Houle, president of the Poway Federation of Teachers adds 10 of his members to the list of those whose houses were destroyed. Other AFT locals reporting losses include the Palomar College Council of Classified Employees, San Diego Adult Educators, AFT Guild-San Diego Community Colleges, and Part-Time Faculty United-AFT at the College of the Canyons.

Larry Krupinski, a member of the PFF, lost his home in Rancho Bernardo, Calif. A week after the fire, he and his family were staying with friends, meeting with insurance people and putting to-gether the pieces of their lives. Krupinski and his family managed to flee their house just before the fire struck. "You learn a lot of valuable lessons," Krupinski says. "The most important thing in life, in essence, is life."

You can help fellow AFT members reclaim their lives from these losses by contributing to the AFT Disaster Relief Fund, Attn. Connie Cordovilla, 555 New Jersey Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001. Contributions are tax deductible.

Rules of Engagement
Training helps teachers set a classroom climate that leads to learning 

High school teacher Zachary Matthews moved from teaching honors classes at a small public school to a faculty position at Central Visual and Performing Arts, a St. Louis urban magnet school that posed its own set of challenges and opportunities.

"The culture of the classroom was totally different," explains Matthews. "The kids here have more energy, and expectations of students aren't as universal" as they were in honors-track classes.

The challenge for Matthews was to set the tone for learning from the start of the school year. And it was a challenge that he was able to meet thanks in part to classroom management training he received through AFT St. Louis and its Educational Research and Dissemination (ER&D) program.

Matthews was introduced to the professional development program during his teacher orientation. "There was a sign-up sheet to have a representative come and help me set up my classroom," he remembers.

"I signed the list and never gave it a second thought until I got a phone call from [a representative] asking me when would be a good time to come in and help me," Matthews says. "I was thrilled that someone in the union actually took the time to help me start my year in a positive manner."

The training helped Matthews make choices ranging from the physical arrangement of tables, desks and chairs to strategies for conveying high expectations to students from day one. A big part of the second task, Matthews explains, is to set and reinforce rules in the early days of the school year. Even today, Matthews keeps posted on his walls the ER&D rules that helped him get the class off to a great start.

Matthews was somewhat at a loss to understand why ER&D trainers took so much time discussing the layout of his classroom. At first, he didn't realize how important the setup of student desks would be in dictating behavior management. "I quickly realized [the point] as soon as the students arrived."

Matthews also says he received great tips from the trainers when it came to his lesson plans and ways to incorporate different styles of learners in the classroom.

AFT St. Louis has heard similar stories from teachers with five or fewer years of classroom experience. This group was the focus of ER&D training at the beginning of the year, and many of those professionals joined the St. Louis affiliate as a result of the training they received. For AFT St. Louis, "it was a great opportunity to demonstrate that professional development is union work," says local president Mary Armstrong.

The effort is showing great staying power in the St. Louis school system. At least one school is preparing to launch a schoolwide program this school year aimed at safe and orderly classroom settings using strategies from ER&D.

For Matthews, the support he received through the St. Louis local has been a bright spot this school year. Many of the classroom management tips he employed can be found at www.t-source.org in the "arranging your classroom" section.