MATTERS MARIAN - Marian Catholic High School

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TEACHER ROCKAITIS EXPERIENCES ‘GOLDEN’ MOMENTSitting in classroom, Ryan Rockaitis switches roles with the students and lets senior, John Bonato ’04lead the class in discussion. Rockaitis was nominated for a 2004 Golden Apple Award.¡Felicidades, Señor Rockaitis!An upbeat enthusiasm from Room 202 atMarian Catholic High School tumbles outthe door.Ryan Rockaitis’ classroom is filled withbright colored posters, signs ofencouragement and upbeat Latin music.As students enter the Spanish class, theirenthusiasm and light chatter are evidenceof the fun educational experience to come.Rockaitis, in his sixth year of teaching[at Marian Catholic] is a Golden Applefinalist. The Golden Apple Foundationrecently announced the names of 32Chicago-area finalists for the 2004 GoldenApple Awards for Excellence in Teaching ingrades 9 through 12.A total of 681 teachers from Cook, Lake andDuPage counties were nominated for theaward, which was first presented in 1986.“Rockaitis is a dynamic teacher full of energyand great ideas to share with students,”according to top administrator Sister MaryPaul. Rockaitis appreciates the sentiment,acknowledging that he is a teacher who triesto get all his students involved throughcreative teaching methods. He was told earlyon that learning occurs when the mind is ina state of joy. A philosophy that Rockaitishas taken to heart.Rockaitis said teaching also has beencompared to acting. “Almost anyone can act,reading word for word from a script, butwho will be interested? It’s filling the scriptwith energy and effort that makes an actor’swork worth watching.”“I put energy and life into my teaching,so they will watch my show,” said Rockaitis,who turns 28 next month and lives in Worth.Rockaitis calls Marian his first officialteaching job, but he has taught summerschool at Loyola Academy, classes inMinnesota and Pennsylvania and some nightcourses. Rockaitis has known since secondgrade that he wanted to be a teacher. It washis freshman year in high school that he knewhe wanted to teach Spanish.Rockaitis still e-mails his second grade teacher,Sister Anne Frances, daily. In high school,Rockaitis planned to take Latin, but opted forSpanish when the Latin class was full.He loved the language.“Buenos dias,” Rockaitis tells his studentswho respond enthusiastically to a 10:10 a.m.class on Tuesday. After they get settled, thestudents offer names of friends and families— in Spanish and English — for whom theywould like to pray. Then the group joins inthe Spanish version of the Hail Mary.After the prayer, Rockaitis tossed a smallbeach ball of the earth out to the students.A handful of students have an opportunityto share their “braggage or baggage,”comments about positives and negatives thatare affecting them at the moment.One student complains about a lot ofhomework in her English class, whileanother student shares her exciting weekendplans. After some thoughtful comments,Rockaitis says its time for a vocabulary quiz.Without groans, the students get out theirpens to get the job done. The rest of theclass is then spent discussing “los verbos concambio radical,” or stem-changing verbs.Rockaitis, who graduated from Marist HighSchool in 1994, received his bachelor ofscience degree in education fromNorthwestern University in 1998.He received his master’s degree in educationfrom California State in Sacramento.Now, Rockaitis is plugging away at anothermaster’s degree in administration atGovernors State University.Rockaitis said it is wonderful to benominated as a Golden Apple finalist.“It’s nice to be recognized,” Rockaitis said.“There are lots of great teachers here whocare about students and give the extra effort.It’s nice for people to see how important it isfor me to teach,” he said. The best part ofthe job, according to Rockaitis, is getting toknow a student as a “full person.”As “dynamite” and “nice” as Rockaitis is,he is also quite demanding of his students,Sister Mary Paul said. The students knowhe’s fair and respect him for it, she said.Sr. Paul said Rockaitis’ efforts extend wellpast the classroom. He participates in schoolretreats, has chaperoned dances, is a memberof the Faculty Council, volunteers with aRotary Club and goes on class trips.According to Sr. Paul, “The three things thatmake a great teacher are: first, a solidgrounding in content; second, a love ofstudents and third, a craft or pedagogy toreview, present, integrate and invite studentsto respond to the information.”Under Department Chair, Nancy Holmes,the Foreign Language Department atMarian has a “nice alignment ofcurriculum, Sr. Paul said. “They are greatat working together.”To narrow the finalists to 10 winners, anobservation team came to Marian to observeRockaitis in the classroom setting, interviewhis peers, his students and even some of theirparents. Each of the 10 Golden Apple Awardwinners will receive a tuition-free fall-termsabbatical at Northwestern University;$2,500; a personal computer from Apple;and induction into the Golden AppleAcademy, which now numbers 180 teachers.Rockaitis said he really appreciates thatthe Golden Apple awards’ focus is onencouraging more people to join theeducation field. Teachers have encouragedhim along the way, including anotherSpanish teacher at Marian. Irene Vara-Pohlman was a mentor during his senioryear at Marist.“Teaching is rewarding,” Rockaitis said.“I’d really like to share that with othersand encourage them to try teaching.”The StarThursday, February 5, 2004By LYNDA WELCH HEMMERLING ’856
SERVICE AWARDS ALLTraveling east on Joe Orr, we see some of the last farm land left in thearea. If we turn left on Stony Island, we soon come to sign saying “PAWS‘Critter Crossings’ est. 1958,” the same year the first freshman classentered Marian Catholic. Turning into the drive, you see why this farm isso special.Dwight and Darlene, the owners, love animals. From the time he was 18years old, Dwight has had a knack for nursing injured and ill animals backto health. When Dwight retired, he gave his land to this effort. CritterCrossings is so popular with Service Club students that we had to extendour service there from once a week to twice a week. But Critter Crossings isjust one of the many activities in which Service Club students participate.Service Club students also prepare meals and feed the homeless at St. AgnesParish once a month, walk a Miracle Mile that raises money for St. JudeResearch Hospital, have fun with Bowl Down Cancer, sell shamrocks forMercy Home for Children, visit senior citizen homes such as Tolentine andThe Park in Olympia Fields and Holland House in South Holland.They also bake pumpkin bread at Thanksgiving and make candy atValentine’s Day for senior citizens, support Make a Wish Foundation, assistKnights of Columbus and Misericordia on their tag days, help decoratehomes for senior citizens for Christmas and much more.Students, Stephanie Kuersten (Homewood), Max Kaim (Chicago East side),Katie Lynch Chicago (Beverly), Scott Eckel (Mokena), Tom Connelly(Mokena), Chad Lesczynski(Crete), Anthony Entsminger (Orland Park),Maricay Mauro (Crete), gather to get picture taken with Lucy the baby goat.The students regularly go to Critter Crossings to help take care ofanimals just like Lucy.The variety and flexibility (students participate when they can fit it into their schedule) keep students coming back for more. That’s why more than 85percent of Marian students voluntarily participate in some type of service activity. There’s great benefit to the people and animals they serve, yet there’splenty of reward for the students as well.The following article was written by two freshmen who fell in love with Lucy, a baby goat that was at birth abandoned by its mother.Meet Lucy, an adorable, extremely lovable young goat. Along with many other animals, Lucy makes her home at Critter Crossings. There are deer,geese, foxes, doves, horses and many other animals that take shelter here, and not all are native to America.Critter Crossings takes care of rejected and orphaned babies, allowing them to grow to adulthood to be released back into the wild. Every animal heregets its own special attention and love.Of course, what Critters Crossings does is only possible with the support of people like us. If Critter Crossings accepted money from the government,then if the animals do not get a new home, they get put down after a period of time. We do not want to kill the animals, do we? These animals are soloving, so lovable, how can anyone turn their backs on them? We know we cannot.We have not missed a single trip to Critter Crossings since our first time there. We have found it impossible to resist the animals. Help Lucy and theother animals, and you will feel good about it. We know we do.FRESHMEN, MARISSA BACKLIN AND STEPHANIE BACKLIN MCHS Service Club MembersBLACHOWICZ TEACHING HONOREEC AMILLE L.Z. BLACHOWICZ, PH. D.National College of EducationNational Louis UniversityEvanston, IllinoisCamille (Zarantonello) Blachowicz,a 1962 graduate of Marian Catholic Highschool, was named Outstanding TeacherEducator in Reading by the InternationalReading Association. Dr. Blachowicz isProfessor of Education at National Collegeof Education of National Louis Universitywhere she is director of the Reading Centerand Reading Program. In her long career asan educator, Dr. Blachowicz has been aclassroom teacher, team leader and readingspecialist as well as university educator andstaff developer.Her research has been supported by grantsfrom the Spencer Foundation, the FulbrightCouncil, The Chicago Community Trustand the International Reading Association.Dr. Blachowicz’s many articles have beenpublished in journals ranging from ReadingTeacher to Reading Research Quarterly andshe is also the co-author of Reading Diagnosis:87An Instructional Approach and alsoof Teaching Vocabulary in All Classroomsand Celebrate Reading along with numerousbook chapters and the recent ReadingComprehension: Strategies for IndependentLearners. She is co-author of the chapter onvocabulary research for the third Handbookof Reading Research (2001).As a staff developer, she is a frequent speakerat national, local and international conferencesand at meetings of the International ReadingAssociation where she is a member of thePublication Committee.Currently, along with her teaching andwriting, Dr. Blachowicz is co-directing theproject to develop K-1 literacy assessmentfor the State of Illinois, The IllinoisSnapshot of Early Literacy. She also directstwo projects in urban and suburban schools,“Literacy Partners,” and the “EverybodyReads” Fluency Project.
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MATTERS MARIAN - Marian Catholic High School

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