THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100349
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
Pamela Slobe, a Northside Middle School teacher who has won widespread praise for her work with learning-disabled students, on Tuesday was named the city's teacher of the year.
Slobe, who began teaching in 1967, has taught special education classes in Norfolk for the past decade, after stints in Fairfax County, Tampa, Phoenix and Hampton.
At Northside, Slobe is known as a tireless champion of learning-disabled students. She is credited with groundbreaking efforts to bring special ed students into the mainstream of school activity, to provide them with the same opportunities as their peers.
Many local educators say she was instrumental in sparking the district's move in the 1990s toward ``inclusion,'' the term given to mixing regular and special ed students in the same classes.
``Northside's teachers now recognize the true abilities of their students with special needs,'' Principal Timothy M. Sweeney wrote in a Feb. 26 letter to administrators. ``They expect to see their names on the honor roll. . . . They expect that learning disabled students will often be recognized as students of the month and even as students of the year. They expect these things because Pamela Slobe has taught them to expect them.''
Sweeney added: `` `Thanks to Mrs. Slobe' is a phrase common to the ears of those at Northside.''
Letters from appreciative parents speak best of Slobe's work, he added, including a recent one that said: ``Thank you for helping my daughter. Thank you for restoring my faith in the educational system.''
Slobe says that many learning-disabled children question their academic abilities, and that her biggest challenge is to motivate them to become life-long learners.
``I must create an environment that encourages creativity, celebrates divergent or unusual reasoning and advocates initiative and independence,'' Slobe wrote in her nomination form. ``I must help them understand that some academic pursuits may result in failure, but that the true measure of success may have been in their effort.'' by CNB