Koenigís the teacher whoís always teaching

By DAWN SLADE
Mille Lacs County Times
Posted 11/27/02

Twenty-two little faces eagerly stare up at their leader. Listening, wondering, giggling, questioning, and responding.

They are the second grade students in Sasha Koenigís classroom - and they are learning.

They learn the basics, of course, but they learn some other very important things, too. Like respect.

"Remember, we donít laugh at each other," Koenig reminds them when a student makes a mistake.

In fact, "respect others" is number one on the list of Koenigís class rules. Followed by, "use walking feet," "listen to the speaker" and "mistakes are OK."

On this particular day, Koenig is reading a folk tale with the students. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, the students each have the same book in hand as Koenig reads aloud.

"Do you see that string? It kindaí looks like a collage," one students says.

When the question arises in the middle of the story, Koenig stops reading the book to respond.

She explains how the illustrator used a variety of items to make the picture, such as string and fabric.

She allows the students to express their thoughts. They discuss the observations and then Koenigís reels them back into the story without missing a beat.

Though the students are only seven and eight years old, Koenig introduces bigger words to them within her conversations - like "illustrator" and "fluency."

Itís almost subliminal. Koenig will incorporate a larger word into the conversation, but will restate the sentence with a smaller word the children are more likely to understand. Theyíre exposed to a broader range of language, without even realizing it.

Koenig (Kay-nig)

Ever since she was in second grade herself, Koenig has wanted to be a teacher.

She would ask teachers for old papers to correct. Then on Sundays, she and her friend would play school.

Now that sheís all grown up, Koenig no longer has to pretend.

Originally from Lakefield, Minn. Koenig graduated from St. Cloud State University with a double major - elementary education and special education. And has since earned her masters degree.

Koenig and her husband Todd, a teacher in Zimmerman, and their dog Molly live in Milaca.

For the past five years Koenig has been teaching second grade at Milaca Elementary. Prior to that, she taught special ed for two years.

Teaching special ed allowed her to be more personal with the children, she said of the smaller group sizes. But, Koenig admits she likes second grade and enjoys being "their" teacher.

Koenig says the biggest challenge for her in teaching is being able to teach to each childís learning style.

"Finding ways to teach one subject to each child, especially reading, is difficult. They all learn differently," Koenig said.

The best thing about teaching, Koenig says, is, "When I see a child finally learn something. When it clicks and they get that ëahaí look in their eyes."

She is especially excited when children have a passion and love for reading. Knowing how, or if, you can instill that in a child is a question she ponders, but Koenig feels exposing them to all types of books is a good start.

And just what is Koenigís favorite book? Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon. Itís a story about a baby bat who gets lost and ends up living with a family of birds. The moral of the story, of course, is that even though the bat and the birds are quite different, they can still be best of friends.

Her favorite television shows are CSI and Friends, while Koenigís favorite movies are My Best Friendís Wedding and Keeping the Faith.

"I love TV shows and movies that make me laugh," Koenig adds.

In her spare time, Koenig says she enjoys working in her flower garden, going for walks with her husband and their dog. She also enjoys scrap booking, going to the movies and spending time with family and close friends.

Back in class

Making them think on their feet, Koenig asks what might happen next in the story. Of course, this is a folk tale and since the crane in the story was large enough for a person to ride on, itís anyoneís guess what might happen next.

Not really looking for a "correct" response, Koenig wants the children to open their minds and anticipate the next logical, or not-so-logical, step in the story.

"Thank you to those who are sitting quietly and paying attention," Koenig says to the children.

When the tale finally ends, Koenig once again has the children thinking on their feet - literally.

The students stand in a circle and toss an inflated ball to one another. On the ball are various unended sentences, such as, "My favorite part was..." and "In the beginning..." and "The setting was..."

As each student received the ball from another, they read aloud the sentence, finishing it in their own words. Not only did it reinforce the story in their minds, it gave the students the opportunity to express their interpretation of it as well.

Another reading exercise Koenig does with her class is a paragraph on the board with each sentence missing a word.

"We learn about _____ in math," is the first sentence. The students take turns trying to guess what the missing word might be, but when Koenig reveals the first two letters of the word (sh), the hands fly into the air.

"Shapes" and "sharing" are the two answers the kids guess. After Koenig reveals that "shapes" was the correct answer, she has the group re-read the sentence.

She reminds the students to stop, think and ask themselves what makes sense. Does the word sound right? Look right?

Get your mouth ready to say the first sound in the word, and then "chunk" it - instructing the children to look for a smaller word within the big word theyíre stuck on.

Sometimes, itís best to "hop" over the word and then go back to the beginning of the sentence and try again.

This continues on through the entire paragraph, when at last they finally read all the sentences together correctly.

"Where are your eyes?" she asks some of the students who have been distracted.

Itís Koenigís positive and composed style of teaching that keeps the atmosphere in the room relatively calm, in what could easily be chaos.

During a tongue-twisting poem that involved Philip the pharmacist phoning a pharmacy in Phoenix, Koenig took the opportunity to throw in some geography.

"Does anyone know where Phoenix is?" she asks. No response from her eager-to-learn audience prompts Koenig to pull down a map of the United States.

The teacher is always teaching.

"Weíve come a long way in seven years," Koenig says of the Milaca school system.

Adding four or five more students to the class is a lot tougher, she admits. But quickly adds, "Weíre fortunate here. I would hope to keep the class sizes small. You can really get to each individual child with smaller class sizes."

When asked if school should be year-round, Koenig said, "I can see the benefits of both sides. Having year-round school would eliminate the long summer that students have off and away from the routines of school, but on the other hand, I believe the summer break gives kids the time to be kids and families more time to spend together."

Her advice for parents, "Read! Read to your child as much as you can. Read together the road signs you see, recipes you use while baking, cereal boxes, signs while youíre shopping, and especially favorite books."