When it comes to helping advance math and science learning at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville East St. Louis Charter High School, the names of three SIUE alumni come to mind.
Matt Johnson, Barbara Lane and Johnathan Tate make up the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Department at the Charter High School. The three instructors work to help students make sense of and succeed in math and science through their teaching, as well as by utilizing the resources available through the William Frederick Graebe Sr. Learning Center, the $1 million STEM classroom at the East St. Louis Higher Education Campus.
For the three instructors, the reward of working at the Charter High School is watching young minds stretch beyond what even the students themselves thought was possible.
“It’s been great watching students wanting to show that they are smart, because there’s something heartbreaking in hearing kids say they’re not,” said Johnson, who came to the East St. Louis Charter High School in 2011. Johnson graduated from SIUE in 2011 with a master’s in teaching.
Lane also weighed in with her belief and hope in the Charter High School students: “We have such good minds among them. It’s getting easier to convince them of their brilliance.” Lane has been teaching at the charter school since 2007. From SIUE, she received a master’s of business administration in 1987 and a master’s in science education/secondary education in 2008.
The newest math and science teacher, Tate, is thrilled when his students are excited about learning. “My students love working in the Graebe Center,” he said. “They are so enthralled when they are in there, that they lose track of time. Some even forget to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water.” Tate graduated from SIUE in 2012 with a bachelor’s in physics. He began teaching at the charter school in the spring of 2012.
The Graebe Center has served to better facilitate learning for the students and to provide exceptional instructional aids for instructors, the three teachers agree.
“Our STEM lab is phenomenal,” Johnson said. “I’m in the lab at least once a day with various classes. There is energy to the space that is quite different than a normal classroom. It is a mixture of collegiate and professional.
“It’s incredible. There is a participation level that isn’t matched in a normal classroom,” Johnson said. “When you walk in there, students really do feel smarter.”
A benefit for teachers is the ability to display many things and use multiple systems at once, Tate said. “Our STEM Center gives our students the opportunity to become part of the future, because technology is moving everything to an electronic source.”
While it is crucial to expose students to the latest technology, just as important, is convincing them of the value of learning, according to the SIUE alumni.
“I had a student who was going nowhere fast,” Johnson said. “Two years later, he is one of my more studious students. We all tried to keep a good environment of learning around him. One day, he stayed after school without being asked and requested help with his geometry. That’s a change in attitude, which to me means more than grades.
“Ms. Lane had noticed him two years ago,” Johnson said. “She said, ‘If we can get him going, then we’ve done something,’” he added.
Tate makes mention of a female student who started the year in Algebra II with an F grade and now the student has a B average.
“She came to understand the material,” he said. “And just as exciting, she has a confidence of the material.”
A thirst for learning, Lane said, is what she would wish for all of her students. But she doesn’t stop there, the previously retired IT professional, also wants to remain a student of learning. To continue sharpening her skills as a teacher, Lane said she is participating in a program to improve science teaching and student learning, led by Dr. Sadegh Khazaeli, professor of analytical chemistry at SIUE.
Johnson is looking for the “Einstein” in every student. The teacher notes one of Albert Einstein’s quotes: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
The Charter High School teachers say they don’t believe any of their students are incapable. On the contrary, Johnson added: “Gosh, if I thought a student wouldn’t grow to become better than I am, then I would have never become a teacher.”
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Pictured are SIUE East St. Louis Charter High School teachers: Barbara Lane (from left to right), Johnathan Tate and Matt Johnson.