Carmen Kotto uses fake money, song, dance to improve scores
Gilroy – It all collapsed at once.
Her mother died. Her ex-husband moved out and her students suffered in the aftermath.
“I forgot to teach,” Carmen Kotto said.
That sudden wave of turmoil and depression left a whole classroom of children behind. All of her students’ scores on district assessments that year dropped.
That was three years ago and the Las Animas Elementary School teacher isn’t the least bit proud of that bite-sized, but significant piece of her past. But instead of lamenting her transgressions, Kotto is mending the present by incorporating a variety of unique teaching techniques.
The longtime educator teaches lessons in 10 minute chunks, not only to stave off boredom but also to fit all the standards required by the state into a day. Students earn $300 worth of funny money for completed homework, but they’re also required to pay $2,000 in rent, contribute $100 to charity and pour $100 into their savings account.
Students who can’t make rent, end up homeless, in other words, without a place to rest their books. Boys have to pay if they show up looking sloppy in untucked shirts. Baseball hats aren’t allowed.
When each student pulls out their journals, what they refer to as “ganas,” or “desire” in Spanish, the children know it’s time to work on advanced skills, such as complicated multiplication problems, work that’s not normally part of a second/third grade classroom.
In January, Kotto began offering Saturday school and extra help for an hour every weekday morning, both focused on math. Probably the most telltale sign that Kotto’s classroom is anything but average appeared when the teacher asked her second and third-graders to stand up one recent afternoon.
Once all the kids were on their feet, they began reciting numbers, continents and shapes all while clapping, snapping and dancing. “Quadrilateral,” they shouted, stomping their feet and then counting by fives. When finished, Kotto told her students to sit, and then revealed another one of her secrets.
“I make everything a competition,” she said.
All of the above teaching techniques, appear to be working. This year, Kotto’s 20 students have managed to achieve vast improvement on the district’s assessment tests. Students are tested in math and reading three times a year, in the fall, winter and spring.
In math, her students jumped 23 points this school year and in reading by 15. Roshan Heredia, 9, achieved the largest gain, with a 44-point improvement.
“She’s improved quite a bit,” said Rita Heredia as she stopped off to pick up her granddaughter.
Still, Kotto worries. She worries about the students she said she “forgot to teach,” three years ago. She worries that her students won’t be able to hack it in the upper grades.
“I am worried about them when they leave,” she said. “I want them to love math.”
That’s why Kotto dedicates her free time and resources to her students. She’s at Las Animas morning, noon and weekend. After school she heads over to the after school program at Eliot Elementary School.
She credits other district employees, including Rob van Herk and Antoinette Calip. Van Herk, information technology officer for the district, was the one who “opened her eyes” to the test scores, she said.
“She expects a lot from her students and is constantly looking for ideas on how to reach the kids and get them to do better,” van Herk wrote in an e-mail. “She started a Saturday morning math academy for her students and (recently) she even invited the students to come at 7am in the morning. All this extra time, setting expectations, challenging and supporting these students absolutely results in significant student improvement.”
Kotto stays in contact with students from three years back and has promised to pay college tuition of one of the boys who she said is lagging behind. And for those who question why Kotto chooses to devote her life to education, the veteran teacher has a quick answer.
“I have no husband, no kids,” she said. “These are my babies.”
Carmen Kotto Profile
– Born: La Paz, Bolivia
– Grew up: Fairbanks, Alaska
– Bachelor’s: Greensboro College in North Carolina
– Master’s: University of South Carolina
– Now lives: Gilroy
– Years teaching: 15
– Years at Las Animas: 11
