Pieces of a puzzle assembled to create a whole person. Portraits on a wall to create a mural.
A schoolwide project at Monteith Elementary School taught students how individual acts of courage can lead to change.
Every student from Young 5 to grade 4 had a hand in creating the mural installed along a corridor at Monteith Elementary. Each class was assigned a “changemaker” — an influential Black leader who contributed to making the world a better place.
In addition to learning about this person through books, videos and other activities, students were each given a puzzle piece to color by number. Once all the pieces were complete, they were assembled to create a portrait of their changemaker. The teachers then mounted these portraits on a wall to create a mural for Black History Month. Accompanying each portrait is a class photo and a QR code linking to the book the class read.
“This was such a wonderful way for us to start the celebration of Black History Month,” said Suzanne Jabara, whose third graders studied President Barack Obama. “What I feel may be the most special aspect of this project is the feeling that resonated with students. I heard from several families about how their student talked about the project when they went home that day and the impact that President Obama had and contributed to our society and community. One of my students even asked her mom to find a Barack Obama book for her nighttime reading that night. The project really brought people together and has had a special impact on all of us already.”
“My class had the privilege of learning about Venus Williams,” first-grade teacher Beth Thomas said. “As a class, we read our book, in addition to other books, and we learned about the amazing accomplishments of Venus and how she impacted the game of tennis. We discussed words to describe Venus, such as dedicated and brave.”
Michelle Bachert’s Young 5 students learned about Dr. Charles Drew, an American surgeon and medical researcher who improved techniques for blood storage and helped develop large-scale blood banks early in World War II.
Tera Smith’s second graders learned about Vice President Kamala Harris, while Pam Albrecht’s second graders studied Garrett Morgan, learning after reading a rhyming book about him that he is credited with creating the traffic signal. He is also known for gas masks and a chemical for straightening hair, according to Mrs. Albrecht.
“Once the murals were all up in the hallway, the kids were amazed and loved seeing their own creation up for everyone else to see,” Pam said. “It was cute during the project hearing the kids ask students from other classes, ‘Who was your changemaker? Ours was Garrett Morgan.’”
In the kindergarten classrooms, each teacher introduced their changemaker with associated literature and meaningful discussion. Some watched educational videos, listened to music, sang songs, listened to poetry performances, and observed artwork to educate the young learners about their changemaker. The teachers also recorded themselves reading their books so that other classrooms could benefit.
“All Monteith students and staff are loving seeing the gorgeous murals that adorn our hallways for Black History Month,” said kindergarten teacher Natalie Bruveris, whose class learned about Amanda Gorman, the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. “It was truly a team effort and we are proud to see the completed portraits now that this project has come together.”
List of changemakers by classroom
Young 5
Michelle Bachert – Dr. Charles Drew
Kindergarten
Natalie Bruveris – Amanda Gorman
Theresa Comilla – Jean Michel Basquiat
Ashley Kerby – Mae Jemison
Diane Richards – Bob Marley
First Grade
Beth Thomas – Venus Williams
Erin Ranieri – LeBron James
Elizabeth Wang – Jacob Lawrence
Jessica DeWitt – Misty Copeland
Emily Skvarce – Michelle Obama
Second Grade
Pam Albrecht – Garrett Morgan
Tera Smith – Vice President Kamala Harris
Stacey Allemon – Simone Biles
Caroline Wood – Lonnie Johnson
Third Grade
Samantha Desandre – Malcom X
Suzanne Jabara – Barack Obama
Bella Hourdakis – Serena Williams
Laura Cavaliere – Stevie Wonder
3/4 Magnet
Shelley Denison – Dr. Alexa Irene Canady
Fourth Grade
Susan Howey – Dr. Patricia Bath
Daniel Eickhoff – Philip Freelon
Kiera Filbin – Chadwick Boseman
Work-based program sets path to adulthood
Kimberly King is able to combine her background in radio broadcasting, marketing, and speech pathology into her advocacy for students with special needs as coordinator for the Grosse Pointe Public School System Special Education Transition Services Program. After working three years as a speech pathologist for the district, Kimberly joined the Transition Services Program staff this fall. Among her goals are working with families to inform them about the resources and services available to them, including next steps, and helping students be as independent as possible while making that transition into adulthood.
The work-based learning program, one of the services of the transition department located at Grosse Pointe North and serving students from North, Grosse Pointe South and Community Campus, places secondary education students with local businesses or organizations to learn work skills, explore career opportunities, and determine a rewarding life path after leaving the school system.
This program is designed to be an early start at job exploration and assist students with disabilities in making the transition from education/training to competitive, integrated employment. Work-based learning students are accompanied by a school district job coach to assist, teach, and supervise on-site. While students are considered volunteers, some placements have led to paid employment.
Kimberly encourages GPPSS parents who own local businesses to get involved.
“Partnering with GPPSS helps provide an invaluable work-based experience, teaches appropriate workplace behavior, boosts esteem and facilitates students’ arrival at their future with valuable skills that can lead to earning wages and living a rewarding life,” she said.
Examples of successful partnerships include Ace Hardware, Fresh Farms Market, The Helm, St. Ambrose Church, Village Market, J House Juice, The Grosse Pointe Dog Wash and Full Circle.
Also on the client list is GPPSS. Kimberly reached out recently to central administration staff at Morningside to see if students in the work-based program could assist office staff. Two students, Jacob Dall and Quinton Gosselin, are familiar faces now in the office, as they come for an hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays to help with a variety of projects.
Kimberly hopes to communicate more regularly about the program so that more parents and community members are aware of the benefits it provides and how they may stay informed. She created an online newsletter, Transition Trender, dedicated to providing information about the program. It includes spotlights on students, family resources and special educators, among other things.
For more information, follow GPPSS Special Education Transition Services on Facebook or contact Kimberly at kingk@gpschools.org or (313) 432-5610.
Alumni Through the Decades
Our 100th anniversary series on GPPSS alumni continues
P.J. Palen
Grosse Pointe South High School
Class of 2003
Grosse Pointe South social studies teacher P.J. Palen has been in every building in the district and says he feels at home in all of them.
In addition to attending Kerby Elementary, Brownell Middle School and Grosse Pointe South, where he graduated in 2003, he has taught sixth and eighth grade social studies at Parcells and Pierce. He also worked as a substitute custodian throughout the district as a summer job when he was in college.
P.J. says he had “about as local an education as you can get.” After graduating from South, he attended the University of Michigan, majoring in history. He received a master’s degree in the art of teaching from Wayne State University in 2011.
Before returning to school for his M.A.T. degree, P.J. admits he was “kind of clueless” about his career prospects with a history degree. His first job out of college was at Quicken Loans. While he learned a lot through the training and sold a few mortgages, he realized the field was not a good fit. After less than a year, he quit and accepted a five-day substitute teaching job in a kindergarten classroom at Kerby.
Substitute teaching allowed him to pursue his M.A.T. at night. In 2012, he was offered a full-time position in the district. Teaching middle school social studies “has been fantastic for the trajectory of my career,” he said, as learning where middle school students are in their development gave him a lot of perspective to go on to teach high school students.
While at South, P.J. has taught the gamut, including government, advanced placement and regular U.S. history and, for the past two years, AP European history, which he says has become his new passion. He particularly enjoys incorporating film clips, music and a variety of tools and resources into a multimedia experience to bring history to life for his students. He also has coached South’s mock trial team for 10 years and Quiz Bowl team for six, and is the social studies department chair.
P.J. credits his positive experiences as a student for inspiring him to pursue education as a career. He has a list of teachers to thank, beginning with Regina Gersch, his first-grade teacher at Kerby, who turned him into a reader at a young age.
Steve Gulian, a long-time teacher at Kerby and Richard, was “one of the most fun teachers imaginable,” P.J. added. Maureen Bur, now GPPSS Director of Secondary Instruction, was his middle school science teacher. Carl Justice taught him math in high school.
Several of his former teachers are now colleagues, including English and drama teacher Meaghan Dunham.
“It’s been really cool to teach along with my former teachers,” P.J. said. “I feel that the teachers at South really take bringing the next group of teachers up to a higher level very seriously. (Principal) Moussa (Hamka) talks about that a lot — passing the generational torch. We’re really proud of that.”
Becoming a father — he and his wife, Jennifer, have a 2 ½-year-old, Lola, who is in preschool at Barnes Early Childhood Center — has added to his range of experiences in the district.
“I feel like I was just a young teacher, but now I’m moving into a different role,” P.J. said. “Being a dad has also totally changed my perspective. It’s a real trip to be connected to the whole cycle of education.”
P.J. Palen is one of the panelists on the League of Women Voters Grosse Pointe and the Grosse Pointe & Harper Woods branch of the NAACP virtual program, “What U.S. History Do We Teach in Our Schools?” on Wednesday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. Register at lwvgrossepointe.org by Feb. 7.
Community Partner Spotlight: The Family Center
The Family Center has recorded podcasts on various parenting topics for parents to listen at their convenience. A few of the topics already uploaded to our website include:
Teen anxiety
Active parenting
How to talk to your kids about school violence
Teen and young adult dynamics
Look for additional podcasts in the future with solid parenting advice from local therapists.
Also available on The Family Center YouTube channel is the webinar, “What Every Parent Needs to Know About Vaping.”
North presents ‘Fiddler on the Roof’
There’s still time to see North’s musical, Fiddler on the Roof. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center, 707 Vernier, Grosse Pointe Woods. Click here to purchase tickets.