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Relationships Key to Success: JoAnn Lens, Wisconsin’s Elementary Teacher of the Year
Posted: 11/11/2009 5:09:12 PM
State Superintendent Tony Evers presents the Elementary Teacher of the Year Award to JoAnn Lens as her class gathers around them.
From the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association
The Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA), in a month-long Celebration of Teaching campaign is featuring stories about successful teachers in MPS. The campaign will culminate with American Education Week, November 15-21, 2009.
The public is also invited to share stories of teaching success in MPS through the MTEA Web site, www.mtea.org.
This week’s feature is about Wisconsin’s Elementary Teacher of the Year, JoAnn Lens.
A Proud Moment
The TV cameras, the scheduled visit from State Superintendent Tony Evers and MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos, the last minute announcement of a school assembly – none of these clues tipped off 4th grade teacher JoAnn Lens that she was about to hear the announcement: she was selected as Wisconsin’s Elementary Teacher of the Year.
It has been 35 years since a teacher from Milwaukee was selected for the honor.
JoAnn says that when she saw Evers, she thought to herself, “Why is he here?” Even when he told the assembly, “You have one of the best teachers in the state!” she still didn’t think he was talking about her.
“I just didn’t put it together,” says JoAnn, sheepishly. “There are a lot of teachers here who could have just as easily received this honor.”
You could call her naïve, but no one who watches her teach or who works with her at Hawley Environmental Elementary School questions her skill and devotion to her students and to the craft of teaching.
Her classroom is orderly, but comfortable and brightly decorated. The conversation with her students is easy and respectful, but there’s no question the teacher is in charge.
JoAnn is in her 18th year of teaching, her 9th at Hawley. When asked about her professional accomplishments, JoAnn talks about her colleaugues, her school and her students.
The Hawley Way
“I couldn’t be teacher of the year if I didn’t have such a supportive school to work in,” says JoAnn.
Hawley was one of 13 MPS schools that received recognition as a New Wisconsin School of Promise, indicating they had higher than average achievement for two years running.
That afternoon, JoAnn took in a student from another classroom, because he wasn’t cooperating with his regular teacher. “That happens all the time.” she says. “We pitch in and help each other. If one of my students and I need a break from each other, another teacher will take in my student for the day.”
“We collaborate. We all have high expectations. We are all working toward the goal of making this a better place for our students, and helping them become people who make our community a better place to live in.”
Just outside the school on the south and west sides of the building are prairie gardens that are an integral part of the students’ learning experience. The students and staff care for the garden and study how it evolves in their lessons. Every part of the curriculum incorporates environmental lessons.
JoAnn explains how the school’s values around stewardship of the Earth tend to build a different kind of character. Educators nurture a respect for the environment in their students, and that naturally leads to more respect for one another.
“Starting as early as K4, students are taught that they can make a difference in our world, even if it’s as simple as picking up litter or planting a flower,” says JoAnn.
“When new kids come from other schools, the students who have been here longer are the first to help them understand how things work around here. They say to their classmates, ‘We recycle those plastic bottles.’ Or ‘We pick up the litter in our garden.’”
JoAnn, as well as her colleagues, organize field trips to places like Jones Island, the Urban Ecology Center, and the Hank Aaron trail, where the students plant flowers along the trail. Visitors from the Menomonee River Valley Project, Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful, the International Crane Foundation, and the Monarch Watch are regular visitors to JoAnn’s classroom.
The school has managed to maintain physical education, music, art and technology classes for their students, despite budget pressures.
They have a supportive administrator who makes an effort to thank the staff for work well done, and the staff spends time tending to their relationships with students and their families.
“If you see a staff person on their phone at lunchtime, often they will be talking to a parent,” says JoAnn. “Everybody [at Hawley] pitches in and makes the school work.”
Relationships Count
During our conversation, JoAnn was interrupted by a phone call. It was the mother of one of her students. She took the time to listen, respond to her concerns, and update her about how her son was doing in class today.
After she got off the phone, she shared that her relationships with parents are key to her success as a teacher. Parents have her cell phone number and e-mail address.
“My husband thinks I’m nuts for giving parents my cell phone number,” she jokes. Then more seriously, “But those relationships are critical.”
Relationships are a centerpiece of JoAnn’s philosophy about teaching.
She set aside time to share her experience of being Teacher of the Year with her students, because they had a lot of questions.
“When I found out I had to go to Madison, I told my kids all about it. They asked all kinds of questions, wished me luck, congratulated me.”
She and her students often talk about the special things happening in all of their lives.
“It’s hard with 30 kids in a classroom,” says JoAnn, “but I realize I have to take the time, and give them the opportunity to show me who they are. We get to know each other.”
She continues, “I think that’s why it’s so simple for me. I’m just who I am in my classroom. That’s me in there. I’m not trying to put on a show or be an entertainer.”
Her students also keep self-reflection journals, where they write about what they got out of their lessons, and what they contributed to their own learning. JoAnn explains that it helps her as a teacher. If they are not getting out of the lesson what she wants, she makes improvements.
The journals also help her hone in on each student’s learning needs and styles. She focuses on the things her students do well, and she builds on those assets.
Being a mother of a child with autism has helped her take a more positive, asset-based approach to teaching.
“It’s not about what they can’t do, but what they can do,” she says. “You can really see a change in a student when you focus on the positive. I think it shows my students that I really care about them. That I’m taking the time to learn more about each of them individually.”
“Being a good teacher is finding a way to meet your students’ needs,” says JoAnn. “It’s hard, but you really need to get to know your students first. And let them get to know you. It takes time, but in the long run, it’s worth it.”