TEACHER'S CORNER: `MESSY WRITING' URGED BY JUNIOR HIGH TEACHER

Barb Randolph teaches her eighth-graders that writing is a messy process.

As an English and French teacher and yearbook sponsor at Cape Girardeau Central Junior High School, Randolph strives to be a writing role model.

"I sometimes write with my students, sharing my own struggles and triumphs with written words," she said. "I demonstrate that writing is messy and even teachers rewrite sentences and need help with titles.

"Good writing means revising, working to find the right word, the right phrase," Randolph said.

Recently, when given a writing assignment, a student asked Randolph, "How long does it have to be?"

"It's quality, not quantity," she responded, knowing students want to write a certain length and then quit.

"I smiled when a student replied, `That means no matter how long it is, it doesn't count if it isn't good.'"

Randolph said teaching eighth-graders can be a challenge, but she enjoys her students.

"Adolescents reflect their inner growth through extremes: questions and silence, energy and apathy, anger and laughter," she said. "While mature enough to stay in their seats -- well, usually -- they are still young enough to be curious about the world, open to learning. Eighth-graders are never dull and I learn from them daily."

Randolph has posted a purple pennant under her classroom clock that states: "Believe in Yourself."

"I hope students leave my classroom not only writing well, but as lifelong writers, confident in their ability to communicate their valuable thoughts and ideas."

Randolph has taught English for three years and French two years.

She earned a bachelor's degree in English Education and is currently working towards a masters degree with an emphasis on teaching composition and rhetoric.

She is married to Bob Randolph and has three children: Robert, 10; Becky, 9; and David, 7.

Not surprisingly, Randolph lists reading and writing at the top of her list of hobbies. She also enjoys photography, hiking and trout fishing.

She teaches senior high Sunday school at Mt. Auburn Christian Church in Cape Girardeau.