TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHER ENJOYS SEEING STUDENTS ENVISION DREAMS, LEARN NEW SKILLS

OAK RIDGE -- Fifth graders in Ginger Riehn's class at Oak Ridge Elementary School have spent the year envisioning their dream school.

"Student in my classroom have been exploring their strengths and the strengths of their school," Riehn explained. "Powerful learning environments can be created in every subject when building on student strengths."

In addition, she utilizes projects and experiments within the curriculum.

Fifth-graders use M&Ms, Starbursts, craft sticks, newspapers and other things to solve math problems.

They make clouds, goo, volcanoes, comeback cans and bobbing bugs in science. They build Native American homes for social studies.

"Cooperative groups are used so students can work on social skills as well as academic skills," Riehn said.

Riehn has been teaching for 18 years. "I decided to become a teacher because I've had many teachers in my life that I've admired," she said.

Riehn earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Kansas University in Lawrence, Kansas. She earned a master's degree in remedial reading from Southeast Missouri State University.

"The most gratifying part of teaching is being able to see the light in a student's eyes once they've accomplished a skill or learned something new," she said. "Every year new students come into our classrooms and we get to see them grow and learn. It's rewarding to be a part of that."

She is married to Stan Riehn and has two children, Michael, a junior at Southeast, and Sarah, a freshman at Southeast.