TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHER BELIEVES IN A CREATIVE, POSITIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

When Alma Schrader sixth-grade teacher Rosa Dunn talks about her profession, her answers are filled with enthusiasm.

"What better job could a person have than teaching?" she asks.

Dunn said that every day is a new experience and challenge. Every day she is in control of organizing and creating the day's activities.

The payoff for teachers, Dunn said, is knowing teachers make a difference.

Seeing a student smile when they make a perfect score, seeing the light go on when a student understands a new concept and helping a child make good choices make teaching gratifying for Dunn.

Dunn has been teaching for four years. She began as an assistant in a behavioral-disorders classroom and then taught kindergarten and first-grade before moving to sixth-grade.

Most of her students are 12 years old, and many of them have braces on their teeth. During a classroom discussion about braces, Dunn told her students she had braces once. "One student inquired, `Did you have wooden braces?'"

Dunn teaches social studies for all the sixth-graders at Alma Schrader. During the fall, students studied North American Indians, and ended the unit with an Indian "Potlatch" celebration. Students divided into tribes, had a gift-giving ceremony, played games and ate Indian food.

"I believe in a creative, positive learning environment," Dunn said.

She uses games and rewards to achieve positive classroom behavior and to foster learning. Cooperative learning and hands-on techniques also are part of her approach to education.

Dunn graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a degree in home economics and interior design. She returned to Southeast in 1989 and obtained a degree in elementary education. She plans to begin work on a master's degree this summer.