圣家族毕业生和校友会董事会成员梅根·拉库斯19岁, M’22 Hatches Award-Winning Lesson; Grows Love of Learning
晚上11点.m. on a spring evening in 2023, the teacher app on Meghan Rakus’ (’19, M’22) phone started receiving messages. “The chicks are hatching!圣玛丽教区学校(SMIPS)十大网络彩票平台大全一年级毕业生的家长, 位于费城历史街区的2023年和2016年国家蓝带卓越学校, 和他们六岁的孩子一样兴奋地伸出手来. Thanks to a livestream set up as a way to engage families, 家长们可以在学校一年一度的鸡蛋孵化科学课上分享, which Rakus has bolstered over the last five years. The lesson, 事实上, 最近获得了费城东北部本地人的认可，被评为五名“杰出教师创新奖”之一, creativity, and commitment to the students they serve” by FACTS, a Nelnet school management company. Rakus’ distinction, from among more than 100 applicants nationwide, included a $5,000 honorarium, a $1,000 donation to SMIPS, and a free trip to the Elevate 2024 conference in Atlanta, Ga.在那里，她将向FACTS社区展示她的创新概念.
Every year, farmers from Quiver Farm Projects in Pennsburg, Pa., visit Philadelphia area-classrooms with roosters
还有母鸡和一打鸡蛋，这样学生们就可以上一堂关于鸡的生命周期的动手课，并学习如何照顾鸡蛋(每天翻三次蛋)。, watching them hatch, and nurturing the newborn chicks before returning them to the farm. The two-week process is always a highly anticipated event.
“Of course, 当我作为一年级的新老师继承了这个孵蛋项目, it was during COVID,” Rakus recalled. “我担心学生们无法亲眼看到鸡蛋，观察正常的孵化过程，所以我试着创新. I told my always-supportive principal (Jayda Pugliese ’09, M’14, 她正在圣家族大学完成博士学位)我想直播孵化过程, and she immediately secured a webcam. I have kept the livestream in the project every year since. 我还通过一个名为“merge”的应用程序加入了一个虚拟现实组件,” that allows my students to compare chicken eggs to blue jay eggs, snake eggs, fish eggs. They can make comparisons and pick their favorites. It is now a full immersion experience for them.”
这一课也让Rakus能够在鸡蛋没有孵化或没有存活下来的时候与孩子们进行重要的对话. 这也让学生们有了照顾小鸡的责任感.
“看到我的学生在第一天抱着一只小鸡，试图把它扔到房间的另一边, and I am 说ing ‘No, no, no, no, no! You’ve got to be super careful’ to the last day, when they are holding it and taking care of it, is so cool,” Rakus said. “Watching my students mature and grow over the two-week period, 当小鸡从一个小外星人变成一个毛茸茸的球, is so great.”
和有趣的! 因为拉库斯小姐的魔法课很有趣，她的学生早上七点半就会去上课.m. and begrudgingly depart from at 3 p.m. 她让她的学生给小鸡取名，并邀请他们八年级的“大伙伴”加入. In 2023, 这些小鸡是以现在费城球员的名字命名的，以此向拉库斯对战斗费城人队的忠诚致敬. The starting lineup included “MVPeep Harper,” “Bohm with a Beak,” “Schwarbs,” “Silly Billy Stott” and “Phillies Phan Trea.” She will use some of her $5,他将获得1000美元的奖金，购买费城人2024年部分季票计划，并计划与几位同事一起前往伦敦观看球队6月份的比赛. Her students have already started a countdown to opening day.
作为学校唯一负责指导和培养这么多学生的一年级老师, and with no classroom assistant, you might think that Meghan Rakus would want to, 说, fly the coop. Nothing could be further from the truth. 她把她在圣家族的时间归功于她的技能，使她能够如此熟练地处理她的手艺.
“I wanted to be a teacher since I can remember,” she said. “从小到大，我总是听人说，如果你想成为一名好老师，圣家是你该去的地方. I remember being in 7th grade, 我知道我会去圣家学校，因为那里有好老师. I remember not knowing where I wanted to go to high school, but knowing that I wanted to go to Holy Family for college. I was proven right immediately. I was in the first class of the Honors program at Holy Family, 当他们给我提供参加荣誉课程的机会时, it was like someone 说ing, ‘You have the potential to do a lot in your life.’ I think that was the first time that I really heard or felt that. That really opened up a lot of doors for me. I had professors like Fr. Mark Hunt, who was so passionate about what he was teaching. 正因为如此，我想让我的学生知道我热爱我所教的东西. I had professors like Dr. Sullivan and Dr. 阿格纽给教室带来了这样一种平和和平静的感觉, and they had such a caring way about them. 我想接受这一点，我想向我的学生们表明我关心他们. I had other professors, like Dr. Kim Heuschkel，她在教学中融入了幽默感，所以我想效仿她. They all helped me to expand my horizons. 他们把我安置在费城的学校里，给了我各种各样的经历. They taught me how to do observations, to learn valuable techniques for classroom management, how to teach students to read. 他们教会了我研究的重要性，所以我现在对iep的研究有了更好的准备, keeping up with best practices and what studies are showing, and applying it in my classroom. They said, ‘Now it is your turn.“能有那些我曾经学习过的教授们支持我，真是太棒了。. 获得这个奖项并与我以前的教授分享这个好消息对我来说是一个完整的循环时刻. 我很荣幸地告诉他们你给了那个18岁的孩子一枪, did what you told her to do. 我能成为今天的老师，百分百归功于圣家学校, because I saw all of them be amazing teachers.”
Rakus also recognizes her good fortune in landing at Saint 玛丽的, 一所优秀的小型学校，拥有一颗伟大的心，其核心信息是善待每一个人, caring spirit and in a way that God intended.
“Even though our neighborhood is lovely, 我们都知道，当你生活在费城的时候，你可以见证艰辛,” Rakus said. “我们鼓励学生们相信上帝，相信彼此, 知道总会有人在照顾他们. 让我们的学生知道，当出现问题时，我们有依靠.
“当你在处理你正在处理的事情，感觉这些生活就在你的肩膀上, it’s a lot of pressure and a lot of in-take,” she continued. “你正在吸收所有这些情绪，六岁的孩子有很多情绪. It’s a lot of bonding. I see some of my grade partners more than I see my family. I tell them everything about me. No one gets it except them. St. 玛丽学校给了我一些我知道在每个学校和每个学校社区都没有的东西. That’s why I am so attached to St. 玛丽的. Sure, there are times when I feel burnt out or overwhelmed. 我从学校的八年级老师那里得到并一直坚持的一条建议, Judy Crossan-Sanicky, who has been here for 40 years. 一天结束后，你走进教室，关上门，为你的学生服务。”.”