ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611040039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
SHAWN DUFF is one of several male teachers joining the ranks at Roanoke's elementary schools.
Shawn Duff never set out to help close the gender gap among Roanoke's teachers.
He thinks elementary students need both male and female role models, but that's not the main reason he became a teacher. He just likes to work with children.
Duff was captain of the soccer team at William Byrd High School, and when he graduated he thought he might like to coach. But he majored in religion and philosophy at Roanoke College, and worked at several other jobs for two years before deciding what he really wanted to do was teach.
For nearly four years, Duff worked as a paraprofessional in Roanoke County schools and took night and summer courses at Roanoke College to get his teaching certificate.
This year, he's a fifth-grade teacher at Westside Elementary, one of six male elementary teachers hired by the city this year.
Four years ago, school officials set the goal of an elementary teaching staff that included 50 men - 10 percent of the 500 elementary teachers - by the 1998-99 school year.
As a result of the recruiting campaign, the city has 48 male elementary teachers. But school officials said the supply is still limited.
Duff, 28, has found that his class has reacted favorably to having a male teacher. Some of his 19 pupils had men teachers in earlier grades, but others, such as Jessica Patrick, did not.
"I like him. He's hard-working and he gives us a lot of homework, but he's nice," said Jessica, 11.
Whitnee Hunt, 10, said Duff's class is more fun than those of some women teachers. "He's friendly, but we have to work," she said.
Shakia Dickerson, 11, said Duff can be tough, too.
"He's OK, but he gets mad sometimes when we want to have fun," Shakia said.
Duff has discovered that he enjoys sharing Room 37 at Westside with 10-and 11-year-old pupils as much as he anticipated.
"The job is demanding, and it takes a lot of time, but I'm very happy here," he said.
He thinks the children like having men teachers in their school.
"I'll be walking down the hall and second-and third-graders that I don't know will say `Hi, Mr. Duff,''' he said. "The reaction has been very positive."
With an enrollment of 615, Westside, in Northwest Roanoke off Hershberger Road, is the city's largest elementary school. It has a staff of 59 - teachers, administrators and others - that includes five men teachers, one male paraprofessional and a male assistant principal.
Principal Sharon Richardson said elementary children need male teachers as role models because an increasing number live in single-parent households or with grandparents.
"Men teachers bring a different perspective, and I'm trying to broaden the playing field - not only with male teachers, but with different ethnic groups," Richardson said.
In choosing new teachers, she said, "the bottom line is hiring the person who will be the most effective, regardless of gender, but we need different role models and perspectives.''
Duff, who did student teaching at both the second-and sixth-grade levels, thinks he might be best suited for teaching in middle school - grades six through eight - but he likes working with fifth-graders.
"When you walk into a room and you see 20 kids staring up at you and you know you will watch them develop, it can be overwhelming," he said.
The first month was tough, he said, because the kids challenge first-year teachers. The children know who the new teachers are, and try to see if they can be pushed around, he said.
Duff thinks some children might have tried to test him more because he is a male.
"You've got to be consistent and fair so there is no question what they can expect," he said. He has found that good planning leads to fewer discipline problems.
"Problems tend to occur when students are bored or they have little to do," he said.
Duff said he has daily and weekly routines with his pupils and there is less pressure now.
He is required to submit weekly lesson plans to the principal. He gets to school by 7:30 each morning so he can set up his room and prepare for the day because there is little time for planning after the children get there.
Duff said he usually stays at school until about 4:30 in the afternoon - the children leave at 3 - preparing lessons, making copies of handouts and getting ready for the next day.
As an elementary teacher, he has to teach all subjects. He has reading, grammar, spelling and math lessons each day. Three days a week he has social studies lessons. And he teaches science and health twice a week in alternating nine-week periods.
Duff begins each day with 15 to 20 minutes of quiet work for his class as he takes attendance and handles other paperwork. The pupils keep a daily journal and write in it each morning.
He often assigns a topic for them to write about, such as their favorite ice cream or food. On other days, he allows them to choose their own subject. On Mondays, he often lets them write about what they did during the weekend.
The fifth-graders also have a math problem for the day and a word for the day to help them build their vocabularies.
Westside is a magnet school for the performing arts. Duff's pupils have music, dance and drama classes three times a week, but there are separate teachers for magnet courses.
The fifth-graders also have physical education class twice a week and art every other week.
Duff said it was tough trying to keep up with his class's schedule the first few weeks of the school year.
He doesn't have time for coaching now because he's busy with other activities, but he was an assistant coach for the boys' soccer team at William Byrd High when he worked there as a paraprofessional in special education.
Duff was also the girls' soccer coach at the school for one year and served as an assistant basketball coach at William Byrd Middle School.
As a first-year teacher, he is making $27,493. His wife, Amy, teaches English to freshmen and juniors at Patrick Henry High. The couple have been married about 15 months.
"It's nice that our careers are parallel. We can help each other and bounce ideas off each other," he said. "We get the same breaks and holidays."
He has found that elementary teachers must be flexible and capable of covering a wide range of subjects. One day last week, Duff's knowledge of birds was put to the test in a reading lesson as he guided his pupils through a story, "Urban Roosts," about where birds nest in a city. He used the story to help teach them to take notes and organize them.
"It's work, and you have to put in a lot of hours, but I'm enjoying it," Duff said. "I just hope I can get better each day."
LENGTH: Long : 128 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. Shawn Duff maintains discipline in hisby CNBfifth-grade class by telling a disruptive student to take a seat.
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