TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHER FIGHTS PUPIL BOREDOM

Schoolchildren often are afflicted with an education-threatening disease called boredom, said Debbie Caywood, fourth-grade teacher at Cape Christian School.

"Children will respond to learning with eagerness and interest when we make it important and meaningful to them," Caywood said. "It's my job as their teacher to elicit these responses."

As a child, Caywood watched her teachers, studying their expressions, their responses, their techniques.

"Now I stand in front of children who, no doubt, do the same," she said. "With that comes the realization that my job is an important one. I will never reduce my business to merely the imparting of knowledge to a younger generation. For me, teaching means standing before children as a model, a model of ethics, standards, knowledge and enthusiasm."

Teaching at Cape Christian School gives Caywood a chance to incorporate Christian principles along with academic lessons.

"One of the greatest joys I've had this year is when we were discussing current events in the Middle East," she said. After reading a newspaper article about a soldier being held hostage, a student responded, "We just need to pray for that boy."

"Before I knew it, 20 children were praying," Caywood said. "They weren't told to. It wasn't uncomfortable."

As an incentive program, students can earn Crusader Cash for good grades, good behavior, sportsmanship and other exceptional behavior. On Fridays, students exchange their pretend cash for candy and prizes.

Before moving to Cape Girardeau in 1993, when her husband became minister of education at Lynwood Baptist Church, Caywood taught fifth grade for three years in Fort Worth, Texas.

One of her favorite quotes is from Aquinas, who wrote: "The poor teacher stands where he is and beckons the pupil to come to him. The good teacher goes to where the pupil is, takes him by the hand and leads him to where he ought to go."

She said, "This is the kind of teacher I seek to be."