GILROY
– Linda Groom is a case study in Las Animas Elementary School’s
instructional excellence. Not only does the second-grade teacher
dive into the school- and-districtwide reform efforts, she makes
learning fun for her students.
By Lori Stuenkel
GILROY – Linda Groom is a case study in Las Animas Elementary School’s instructional excellence. Not only does the second-grade teacher dive into the school- and-districtwide reform efforts, she makes learning fun for her students.
“She really does epitomize what teachers are all about here at Las Animas,” Principal Sylvia Reyes said. “She is one of those teachers, I think, that other teachers on our site look up to.”
Rather than consider herself the epitome, however, Groom would rather call herself an example.
“I’m not the exception,” she says. “I’m kind of the norm around here.”
Groom, an educator for more than 30 years, credits the support of the entire Las Animas staff with helping the school obtain the district’s biggest improvement – 64 points – on the Academic Performance Index this year.
“I could go to any teacher – from first grade to upper grades – and get some strategies,” Groom said. “There’s a lot of collaboration across grades here, besides at each grade level.”
It’s the ideas that come naturally to Groom that make her stand out as a teacher, Reyes said, such as creating chants to rally her students before taking standardized tests. “We’re gonna beat the test/ We’re gonna do our best,” Groom’s students chant while clapping to the beat.
“That kind of lowers the anxiety level of the kids, so she makes learning a fun experience even when they’re taking a test, she makes it less threatening to them,” Reyes said. “We have high accountability now, and kids know that … so their anxiety goes up.”
Groom dismisses the activity with a wave of her hand.
“It’s just something I do” to relax the students, she said.
From the beginning of the school year, Groom works on introducing simple test-taking techniques to her second-graders, who have never before taken a lengthy, timed, standardized test.
For example, she says, many need to be told that if they don’t know the answer to a question, they can skip it and come back to it later. They have never even filled in a multiple-choice bubble.
Test preparation is big business for the reform-minded Gilroy Unified School District, especially as schools are held accountable by the state and federal governments for stagnant or declining scores. Las Animas, historically one of GUSD’s lowest performing schools, boasts the biggest leap in test scores not only this year, but for the past three years.
To help students improve in the areas where they need it most, Groom goes above and beyond the call of duty, arriving at her classroom at 7 each morning to tutor her students.
She encourages the whole class to come to the room as soon as they arrive on campus, and most mornings more than half her students are busy working even before the bell rings.
The physical state of Groom’s classroom makes it evident that learning involves more than books. She incorporates visuals, leaving hardly an inch of wall space free of colorful lessons or student work.
She uses movement and acting to help students quickly grasp new concepts, such as vocabulary words. A display of about 10 vocabulary words in the front of the classroom shows the word “slope” written on an incline. Groom says the word “doze” while closing her eyes and resting her head on her hands, placed palm to palm.
“If I can get them interested and involved, that’s the connection, that’s how they’ll stay motivated,” Groom said.
Again, Groom says she is not the exception. Other teachers offer tutoring or student peer tutoring between different grade levels.
Sharing tips and strategies with other Las Animas teachers has been useful for Groom, who came to Gilroy from Wisconsin when her husband was relocated for work. Gilroy’s large population of English language learners created a different focus for the longtime elementary school teacher.
“I think the teachers in Gilroy are fortunate, because they’re trying to provide us with a lot of strategies to reach all our learners,” Groom said.
Reyes praised Groom’s use of the district’s literacy and English language development strategies for targeting a wide range of students and successfully using many of the ideas included in a checklist for teachers and administration to observe classrooms.
“When you walk into her classroom, you get a sense (that) she maximizes every second, every second is precious,” Reyes said. “You see a master teacher in charge of curriculum.”
Her classes’ test scores show that Groom’s efforts are working, Reyes said.
“She’s very caring, very committed, very dedicated to teaching and she really has a big heart toward kids,” Reyes said.
Her love of teaching seems to be infectious – one of Groom’s two daughters is also an elementary school teacher, back in Wisconsin. The life-long Midwesterner sometimes wishes she lived closer to her family, including a grandson born last summer, but Gilroy’s climate and friendly community have grown on her.
“Wherever you go, you’re going to meet good people, and we’ve met some fantastic people here.”
