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the university daily kansan 3A
news
Graduates battle challenges in teaching program
By Johanna M. Maska
jmaska@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The walls are not the only thing missing in one Baltimore elementary school.
Funding, qualified staff and textbooks are all needs of the school. But for Paige Isaacson, the walls are more of a concern. The 1970s-era wall-less school concept has given Isaacson many headaches.
headaches.
Isaacson, 2003 graduate and KU alumnus, is teaching third grade in inner-city Baltimore. It took one day and her favorite
student to realize she was at a loss.
JOSS.
"Denisa, the girl that I like,
picked up her desk chair, threw it
and almost hit me," said Isaacson.
"For the first time I was scared of my students."
scared of my student The walls were missing and so was Isaacson's control. Her classroom was out of hand, students were screaming and it was all she could do to keep from yelling in front of the whole wall-less school.
Isaacson is participating in Teach for America, a program that places college graduates in economically disadvantaged
school districts. Next week is the early deadline for application The other deadline is in April.
Ben Burton, also a 2003 KU graduate, is teaching sixth grade social studies at a middle school in the Bronx, New York, as part of Teach for America. Burton and Isaacson both said some days aren't so good.
"I usually come home very frustrated," said Burton. "And it never ends. I just keep thinking, 'I don't want to quit or get discouraged before I can say, 'I know what I'm doing.'"
what I'm doing.
Burton said he sought a Teach for America spot because he was
not in undergraduate education but wanted to teach. He wants to teach for at least five years. But occasionally his frustration gets the best of him.
the best of them don't give a shit," Burton said. "And you can't get to the ones who want to learn because you have to deal with the other ones — the jokers who like to throw paper balls."
But Isaacson believes it's not the children's fault.
"They have no structure at home," he said.
Although Burton said he's determined to help them, some days are complete disasters.
"I can never keep them quiet?" Burton said. "There are days where literally nothing has happened except they're running around like maniacs."
Isaacson is from Salina, so the inner city is a new environment, she said.
"When you come from a community where there are not a lot of minorities in high positions, you're at a disadvantage," Isaacson said.
son said. At Isaacson's school, virtually all students and administrators are of African-American descent, she said.
5248. "I am one of three teachers
that are white," said Isaacson. "But I haven't had any problems. Sometimes I wonder how I'm perceived by the parents of my students because most of them are my age or a little older."
Isaacson said teaching in tough neighborhood can be a challenge. But it's a challenge that she said was worth it.
"When people ask me where I teach, I tell them and they say, 'Oh, that's a bad neighborhood,' Isaacson said, "And I say, 'Yeah, that's why I'm there.'"
Women overcoming stereotypes in field of science
Edited by Joey Berlin
By Amanda Kim Stairrett
astairrett@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
When she co-taught a science class, Daphne Fautin was referred to as the male professor's assistant on a student evaluation
That was three years ago at the University of Kansas.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
"He was more offended than I was," she said.
Jennifer Pramuk aspired to be part of a predominantly male profession. Pramuk, a graduate student in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University, researches herpetology, the study of amphibians and reptiles.
was, she said.
Fautin is a professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology and an invertebrate zoologist, meaning she studies animals without backbones.
bodies. As a female in a field traditionally dominated by males, Fautin is not a stranger to these types of comments.
held women back, it has ultimately created strong support between generations of old and new female scientists.
The role of women in natural science has undergone significant changes during the 20th century. Although discrimination
Jennifer Pramuk is a graduate student studying herpetology in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University. Herpetology is the study of amphibians and reptiles. After graduating, she wants to become a professor and researcher at a university.
Pramuk credited female pioneers in the field for creating role models foryoung female scientists.
"She has encouraged me to participate in 'traditionally' male activities," Pramuk said.
"We wee a great debt of gratitude to our female predecessors who had to blaze a path in an environment that wasn't particularly friendly to women," she said.
lary nibility to work. Pramuk said that she was lucky because she had an excellent mentor, Linda Trueb, herpetologist and a professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology.
activities, France.
Those activities include fieldwork in the tropics which entailed capturing, preparing and preserving reptiles and amphibians in sometimes dangerous environments. She said that many people still associate that kind of work with men.
Pramuk said she wanted to encourage young females to become scientists, and that she was mentoring a high school honor student.
honor students. The University has an organization, the Ad Astra Chapter of the Association for Women in Science, to support and encourage women in all fields of science. Pramuk said the association offered seminars and gave advice on how to deal with issues women face in the field.
aspects of attending meetings is hearing stories of what it used to be like for women in science," Pramuk said.
"One of the most interesting
Prahmuk said.
Fautin said she knew there was discrimination against women at the University of California at Berkeley when she was a graduate student in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She said that there were no women in the biology department when she was there, and that the first female science professor at Berkeley was hired in the early 1970s.
the early 1970s. She said she never realized that there weren't role models for women until she became a professor but that the profession was evolving.
evolving. "My advisors and colleagues have afforded me every opportunity that men would expect to receive," she said.
Pramuk said that women in the field have sometimes fallen
victim to the stereotypes that affect their work. Women in science must remember that they are scientists, first and foremost, she said.
disservice to women," she said "Strive to not let your gender be an issue and the rest will come relatively easily."
"Nothing could do more of a
Edited by Dave Noble
kansan.com
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