Post by Okwes on Apr 30, 2006 19:02:41 GMT -5
Teacher Honored (profile)
Baraboo teacher honored
BARABOO - Jack Young Middle School teacher Sue Gogue is described by
friends and colleagues as a quiet, compassionate and self-sacrificing
woman who tends to fall under the radar of recognition — until now.
Last week the Wisconsin Indian Education Association named Gogue the
"Friend of Indian Education," an annual statewide honor recognizing her
longtime work building a bridge between the Baraboo School District and
its Indian students and families.
The people who nominated her for the award say what's phenomenal about
Gogue, an 8th-grade social studies teacher, is the connection she forges
with native students. While heading up the district's one-on-one
tutoring program for the past 10 years, Gogue has found a way to gently
tug struggling students toward academic success, said one parent.
"If children don't have a ride home, she gives them a ride home — that's
not a reason not to be at tutoring," said Rebecca Lowe of the Ho-Chunk
Nation Education Department, whose daughter worked with Gogue for four
years.
"She would e-mail her to remind her. She knew she was more likely to go
if her friends went, so she would say, 'You know, so-and-so came and she
enjoyed it,'" Lowe said. "The cues are out there. She can find them and
apply them to the kids."
As the district's Ho-Chunk liaison, Gogue attends monthly meetings with
parents of native students to hear their concerns and come up with
solutions to use in the classroom. At the middle school, Gogue is in an
ideal position to help native kids when they most need it, Lowe said.
"We find as the curriculum becomes more rigorous and students have
multiple teachers, they don't have that one individual that they feel
really connected to," said Crystal Ritzenthaler, the district's director
of curriculum and instruction. "Sue has really taken on that role for
that group of students."
Ritzenthaler said Gogue's students will come in before school in the
morning for assistance and often meet with her after school until 5
p.m., when she drives some of them home. "The families have really come
to trust Sue and they have a very solid relationship with her,"
Ritzenthaler said.
Gogue also makes home visits and last year coordinated a recognition
banquet for native students in the district. Last year Gogue and another
teacher took the kids on a bus trip to see the Milwaukee Brewers play,
the first time many of them had been to a baseball game.
"She sacrifices an enormous amount of her personal time… and that's not
lost with her students, parents or the community," said middle school
Principal Bob Meicher. "She's just an outstanding teacher — that's the
bottom line."
"I was surprised and I was very honored," Gogue said Wednesday when she
found out she would be getting the award. "I found out some of my peers
had written letters of support, so that was very touching for me."
The Friend of Indian Education award is given to a non-Indian teacher
who is sensitive to the issues Indian people face when they're in an
educational setting, especially a public school system, said Virginia
Nuske of the Wisconsin Indian Education Association. The award also
recognizes the teacher's efforts to bring accurate historical and
cultural materials into the regular curriculum, a special interest of
Gogue's.
"The only way we're going to take care of prejudice and bias is through
education," Gogue said. "I think there's so much misunderstanding even
by adults — they don't understand what a treaty is and the rights that
are granted in a treaty."
Gogue, who has taught for 25 years, really became involved in Indian
studies in 1989 when the state passed a law requiring schools to include
Wisconsin native cultures, treaties and sovereignty in their curricula.
As social studies chair at the middle school she has helped other
teachers develop Native American lessons and she has advocated at the
state level for putting questions about native cultures onto
standardized tests.
She will be honored at a ceremony at UW-Stevens Point on April 28.
Baraboo teacher honored
BARABOO - Jack Young Middle School teacher Sue Gogue is described by
friends and colleagues as a quiet, compassionate and self-sacrificing
woman who tends to fall under the radar of recognition — until now.
Last week the Wisconsin Indian Education Association named Gogue the
"Friend of Indian Education," an annual statewide honor recognizing her
longtime work building a bridge between the Baraboo School District and
its Indian students and families.
The people who nominated her for the award say what's phenomenal about
Gogue, an 8th-grade social studies teacher, is the connection she forges
with native students. While heading up the district's one-on-one
tutoring program for the past 10 years, Gogue has found a way to gently
tug struggling students toward academic success, said one parent.
"If children don't have a ride home, she gives them a ride home — that's
not a reason not to be at tutoring," said Rebecca Lowe of the Ho-Chunk
Nation Education Department, whose daughter worked with Gogue for four
years.
"She would e-mail her to remind her. She knew she was more likely to go
if her friends went, so she would say, 'You know, so-and-so came and she
enjoyed it,'" Lowe said. "The cues are out there. She can find them and
apply them to the kids."
As the district's Ho-Chunk liaison, Gogue attends monthly meetings with
parents of native students to hear their concerns and come up with
solutions to use in the classroom. At the middle school, Gogue is in an
ideal position to help native kids when they most need it, Lowe said.
"We find as the curriculum becomes more rigorous and students have
multiple teachers, they don't have that one individual that they feel
really connected to," said Crystal Ritzenthaler, the district's director
of curriculum and instruction. "Sue has really taken on that role for
that group of students."
Ritzenthaler said Gogue's students will come in before school in the
morning for assistance and often meet with her after school until 5
p.m., when she drives some of them home. "The families have really come
to trust Sue and they have a very solid relationship with her,"
Ritzenthaler said.
Gogue also makes home visits and last year coordinated a recognition
banquet for native students in the district. Last year Gogue and another
teacher took the kids on a bus trip to see the Milwaukee Brewers play,
the first time many of them had been to a baseball game.
"She sacrifices an enormous amount of her personal time… and that's not
lost with her students, parents or the community," said middle school
Principal Bob Meicher. "She's just an outstanding teacher — that's the
bottom line."
"I was surprised and I was very honored," Gogue said Wednesday when she
found out she would be getting the award. "I found out some of my peers
had written letters of support, so that was very touching for me."
The Friend of Indian Education award is given to a non-Indian teacher
who is sensitive to the issues Indian people face when they're in an
educational setting, especially a public school system, said Virginia
Nuske of the Wisconsin Indian Education Association. The award also
recognizes the teacher's efforts to bring accurate historical and
cultural materials into the regular curriculum, a special interest of
Gogue's.
"The only way we're going to take care of prejudice and bias is through
education," Gogue said. "I think there's so much misunderstanding even
by adults — they don't understand what a treaty is and the rights that
are granted in a treaty."
Gogue, who has taught for 25 years, really became involved in Indian
studies in 1989 when the state passed a law requiring schools to include
Wisconsin native cultures, treaties and sovereignty in their curricula.
As social studies chair at the middle school she has helped other
teachers develop Native American lessons and she has advocated at the
state level for putting questions about native cultures onto
standardized tests.
She will be honored at a ceremony at UW-Stevens Point on April 28.