TEACHER'S CORNER: NELL HOLCOMB TEACHER SERVES DUAL ROLE AT SCHOOL AS ART AND SPEECH INSTRUCTOR

A student once told Nell Holcomb art teacher Marion Weiss she looked a lot like the school's speech teacher. The child's observation was truer than he realized. Weiss is both art teacher and speech therapist.

"My job is very unique because of my dual role," she said. "I teach art to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. I have every student in the school in one of my art classes, and it is very fast-paced and exciting.

"In my role as speech/language clinician, I work one-on-one or do small group instruction. This is also very exciting, but in a much calmer way."

In art class, Weiss doesn't follow a textbook. "Hopefully the projects will relate to the lives of the students and feed on their interests. But it should also be a time when they can accomplish something wonderful with a few supplies and a lot of imagination.

"Students seem to particularly enjoy working with their hands with media such as clay or plaster," she said.

Students also enjoy working in small groups, Weiss said. In the spring, they design, make and fly kites in a contest.

"One of my most humorous experiences was when we were making Ninja Turtle puppets a couple of years ago in kindergarten," she recalled. "I was explaining to the children that the turtles were named after famous artists. One of the children raised his hand and asked, `Were they turtles too?'"

Weiss said her job as speech clinician is made easier because she gets to know students well in her art classes.

"I'm familiar to the students when I screen or evaluate them during the school year for potential speech/language problems," she said.

Weiss has taught a total of 26 years, 16 of those years at Nell Holcomb.

She earned a bachelors degree from Southeast Missouri State University. She and her husband, Paul, have three daughters, Lisa, Gayle and Jennifer, and one grandchild, Loren.

She enjoys crafts, interior decorating, sewing, gardening and walking. She is a member of Hanover Lutheran church, Coalesce, MFWC, the Missouri State Teachers Association and Nell Holcomb Community Teachers Association.

"Many people are a little surprised at my combination of areas, but whether it is art or speech therapy, it's the children who make it work. Without their enthusiasm and eagerness to increase their art or speech skills, neither program would flourish."