Cheryl Corpus is the new Gladiola Elementary School principal. SNN gets to know her in this edition of Meet Your Principal.
What and where was your previous job? I was associate director at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning with The Education Trust-Midwest.
Degrees: I am a National Board Certified Teacher in English as a New Language. I have a bachelor of arts in English and a bachelor of arts in education; a master’s in TESOL/Applied Linguistics; and a master’s in Education Leadership. I’ve attended Central Michigan University, Cornerstone University and University of Colorado.
“Outstanding! You rocked today!” points out new Gladiola Elementary Principal Cheryl Corpus to kindergartners
Other positions you have held in education: I have worked as an adjunct instructor for Aquinas College, an instructional specialist with Godwin Heights Public Schools, a K-8 EL coordinator/assistant principal in Colorado, and a high school and adult education teacher in Flint.
How about jobs outside education? I’ve worked in retail, waitressing, and even worked at Kentucky Fried Chicken when I was young.
What kind of kid were you at the age of students at this new school? In elementary school, I was focused on reading, reading and more reading. I was also into the outdoors and animals. All three things are still true today.
Hobbies/Interests: I like being outdoors, advocating for education and being with my family.
What inspires you, both in your educational role and in your own life? People in general inspire me. You never know their story and I believe in the power of community and that education can create real change. I am driven to close achievement and opportunity gaps for students and to advocate for students and families.
What makes you laugh? A good meme and a good movie analogy to capture situations.
What would people be surprised to learn about you? That I just learned how to play Gaga ball on the playground with students, and plan on being the recess champion by the end of the year.
Tell us about a non-professional book you recommend and why: “Small Great Things” by Jodi Picoult. It challenges us to examine our assumptions/biases and explore the dynamic of race and prejudice.
Finish this sentence: If I could go back to school I would go to 11th grade, because I think it’s such an important year to make decisions about what you want to do after high school. I would sign up for more AP classes and push myself harder.
Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.
New Principal Cheryl Corpus is getting to know her staff, including (from left) Katherine Henry, Restorative Practices practitioner; Amy Hendrickson, social worker; and Fritz Bowerman, behavioral interventionist
Gladiola Elementary School Principal David Lyon shares how he works to create an equitable environment for students.
By Erin Albanese
School News Network
“What inspires you to come to school every day and teach children?” interviewer Rosie del Valle asked Gladiola Elementary intervention math coach Kristi Baumbach.
Baumbach, who had answered previous interview questions without hesitation, paused. “Now, I’m crying,” she said, as del Valle, web content coordinator for community initiatives for the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation, and her film crew took a break from recording.
After gathering her thoughts, Baumbach answered the question.
“The kids inspire me when I walk down the halls and they smile and are excited to see me, when they are excited to come into my classroom and are excited to learn,” she said, her voice still shaky.
Kristi Baumbach, a Gladiola Elementary intervention math coach, tells her story as a teacher for EDNET, a new website for teachers.
Baumbach, a 14-year teacher in Wyoming Public Schools, is among a group of Kent County educators being interviewed for teacher profiles for the Educational Network of Greater Grand Rapids initiative. The film crew is also spotlighting teachers in Grand Rapids, Godwin Heights, Godfrey-Lee and Kentwood. Several, including Baumbach, are involved in Leading Educators, another Doug and Maria DeVos initiative.
The major components of EDNET, as it’s known, include teacher leadership, principal support, and new teacher induction. It launched its teacher leadership work in partnership with Leading Educators in May 2017.
The EDNET website, to launch in April, will serve as a tool for educators by educators. It will include teacher profile interviews such as Baumbach’s, which document educators’ personal stories, from the moment they knew they wanted to teach, to where they are now.
“The website is an underlying foundation for all of the work — a place to bring educators from across the districts together to collaborate and learn from each other so that we can work together to support all children,” said Ashley Johnson, program officer for education for the Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation, which focuses exclusively on local education practice.
The site will also include extensive research and data on education, blogs, and “Teacher Tactics” — effective strategies — submitted by educators from all over the world. Teachers will have ways to contribute content, ask questions and comment.
It’s an effort built out of the desire to come together, said Johnson, a former middle and high school teacher in Washington, D.C., who knows how isolating teaching can be. While talking to educators in the five local districts, a strong desire for a “nexus of collaboration” became clear, she said. “They wanted to talk with each other, listen to each other.”
Jennifer Blackburn, a Gladiola elementary first- and second-grade teacher, said she wants to serve as an advocate for her students.
Learning You’re Not Alone
Baumbach, who has taught at the elementary, middle and high school levels and with English-language learners, said she’s happy to share her story.
“For a long time I thought some of my struggles were just me,” Baumbach said. “As I’ve moved throughout my career and grown, I realized that other educators share that same experience. I wanted to voice that for people who maybe didn’t realize they are not alone.”
Baumbach said she sees the website as a great potential resource.
“Sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in what’s not going well. But to slow down and say, ‘We do great things. Kids here do great things’ — to celebrate and highlight it and focus on that is cool.”
Several other Gladiola educators told their stories, including what drew them to the profession, what makes their district unique, their goals, and what advice they would give first-year teachers.
During his interview, Principal David Lyon spoke of the need for equity in education, for awareness of implicit bias and how it is rooted in the U.S. In serving Gladiola, a school with a large ELL population and high percentage of low-income students, he said he works to see potential in every child and teach them to aim high.
“Goals for this year are that we continue to grow our sense of having high expectations for all children,” Lyon said. “There is plenty of research that shows if you set a low expectation, that’s exactly where they will grow. If you set a high expectation they will grow to that too.”
Lyon said he’s excited to be part of the EDNET initiative.
“The phrase that sticks in my head is ‘We are all in this together, alone,’ because we walk into our classrooms and then whatever struggles we are having, we are figuring out by yourself,” he said. “But if you get that opportunity to hear a similar story and hear from somebody else what inspired them, it just gives you that support even if it wasn’t necessarily face-to-face.”
Check out School News Network for more stories about students, schools, and faculty in West Michigan.
The EDNET team interviews Gladiola Elementary intervention math Kristi Baumbach
Second-graders London Turner and Xavier Pegues read their books Photos from School News Network
The holiday season brought books, books and more books to Wyoming Public Schools elementary buildings. Oriole Park and Parkview elementary schools each has received a big delivery of enough copies for all students of the 2014 Michigan Reads! Book of the Year, “Acoustic Rooster and his Barnyard Band.” The schools were recently awarded the books through Michigan Department of Education’s Culture of Reading program.
Plus, books from the nonprofit children’s literacy organization Reading Is Fundamental, funded through a $10,000 grant from Macy’s department store corporation, has provided Wyoming Intermediate, Parkview, West and Gladiola elementary schools free books. Kindergarten through second-grade students are receiving three books each, and pre-kindergarten and third- through fifth-grade students two apiece, said Danielle Vigh, the district’s academic support manager. Districts qualifying for the RIF grant have free and reduced lunch populations of 80 percent or higher.
“This is very important so our students have access to quality reading materials and reading materials in general, and get into the habit of taking the time to read,” said Superintendent Tom Reeder, who hopes students learn to pick up a book for fun instead of always turning to other leisure activities. “Our community must continue to foster and develop good habits.”
Kevin Elliott turns the pages
Students in second-grade teacher Lori Schimmelmann’s class settled under the classroom Christmas tree with their books in hand. “I like it because Mrs. Schimmelmann thought it was going to be a paper book, but it’s a real (hard-covered) book,” said student London Turner.
“So many of these kids don’t have books at home and to get this nice hard-covered book is like, ‘wow,’” added Schimmelmann.
Source: Reading is Fundamental
Fostering a ‘Culture of Reading’
Other district efforts to promote reading include Little Free Library house-shaped boxes stationed outside schools, with free books inside for the community to grab. Students are keeping reading logs, working to reach a weekly goal of minutes spent reading for fun. A districtwide committee is focused on school and community reading projects.
The state’s Culture of Reading program is distributing 3,000 copies of this year’s chosen book to 115 Michigan elementary classrooms and early childhood programs. It is the first award allocated through the program. Approximately 740 elementary school and early childhood programs applied for the grant.
Awards were granted on the basis of meeting grant criteria, including a commitment to providing the children with evidence-based reading instruction and family engagement activities focused on literacy.
“Kids will be getting their own books and reading instruction to help them on their way to a lifetime of learning and reading for enjoyment,” State Superintendent Mike Flanagan said in a press release.
Parkview Elementary second-grade students Solymar Lopez-Argueta, Joselyn Sanchez-Rodriguez, Vanessa Matildez-Rodriguez and Juan Jimenez-Hernandez read their copies of the 2014 Michigan Reads! Book of the Year
“There are too many people, including children and adults, who cannot read,” Flanagan added. “We need that to change. To help build a culture of reading in Michigan, we need to get books in their hands and in their homes.”
